Gio Batta Gori

Gio Batta Gori is an epidemiologist and fellow with the Health Policy Center in Bethesda, Maryland which he established in 1997 and where he specializes in risk assessment and scientific research.[1] He was deputy director of the United States' National Cancer Institute's Division of Cancer Cause and Prevention, where he directed the Smoking and Health Program and the Diet and Cancer Program.

He organized and directed the Franklin Institute Policy Analysis Center, funded by Brown & Williamson. He is the editor-in-chief of the journal Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology.[2]

He has consulted for the tobacco industry, challenging specific scientific claims concerning the risks associated with tobacco use.[3][4] He is also known for advocating the regulation and taxation of cigarettes and other tobacco products based on their specific delivery of carcinogens and other hazardous substances, so as to promote risk reduction.[5][6][7]

National Cancer Institute

Gio Batta Gori has a doctorate in biological sciences and a master's degree in public health. Between 1968 and 1980, he was a scientist and senior official at the United States' National Cancer Institute (NCI), where he specialized in toxicology, epidemiology and nutrition. He held several positions, including Deputy Director of the Division of Cancer Causes and Prevention; Acting Associate Director, Carcinogenesis Program; Director of the Diet, Nutrition and Cancer Program and Director of the Smoking and Health Program.[8]

In 1980 Gori became Vice President of the Franklin Institute Policy Analysis Center (FIPAC), a consulting firm funded initially by a $400,000 grant from the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation (B&W).[9] Following its initial formation, FIPAC continued to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding annually from B&W.[10][11][12] Gori worked on Research & Development projects for B&W Tobacco, such as analysis of the sensory perception of smoke and how to reduce the amount of tobacco in cigarettes. By 1989, Gori was a full-time consultant on environmental tobacco smoke issues for the Tobacco Institute in the Institute's ETS/IAQ (Indoor Air Quality) Consultants Project.[13] In May 1993, Gori entered an exclusive consulting arrangement with B&W Tobacco, receiving $200/hour a day to $1,000/day for attending conferences.[14] In the 118-page book Passive Smoke: The EPA's Betrayal of Science and Policy, Gio Gori and his co-author and fellow industry consultant, John Luik, claim the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) used junk science to distort the health effects of secondhand smoke. The book was funded by B&W, which funneled the money through a third party, the Fraser Institute.[15]

Criticism

David Cantor writes that Gori has been criticised for his career as a consultant for the tobacco industry and that critics of Gori have questioned his scientific and management credentials.[16] Other academics who have criticised Gori include Richard Kluger and Devra Davis.[16]

References
  1. "Health Policy Center". Manta.
  2. "Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology Editorial Board" – via www.journals.elsevier.com.
  3. United States of America v. Philip Morris et al. Archived 2007-07-21 at the Wayback Machine, Final Opinion of Judge Gladys Kessler, United States District Court for the District of Columbia, p. 162. Accessed October 4, 2007.
  4. United States of America v. Philip Morris et al., United States Factual Memorandum Pursuant to Order #470, Section V, United States District Court for the District of Columbia, p. 44. Accessed October 4, 2007.
  5. Gori, Gio B. Virtually Safe Cigarettes: Reviving an Opportunity Once Tragically Rejected. IOS Press, 2000.
  6. Gori, Gio B. "Less Hazardous Smokes?" Regulation 25:4 (Winter 2002): 66-72.
  7. Gori, Gio B., "Pursuing Less Risky Smokes -- At Last." Regulation 32:2 (Summer 2009): 3-4.
  8. "Legacy Tobacco Documents Library: DR. GIO BATTA GORI (frh21e00)". Retrieved 2007-07-19.
  9. "Legacy Tobacco Documents Library: The Franklin Institute Policy Analysis C... (wpw70f00)". Retrieved 2007-07-19.
  10. "Legacy Tobacco Documents Library: -- No Title -- (krn33f00)". Retrieved 2007-07-19.
  11. "Legacy Tobacco Documents Library: For contribution to Policy Analysis Center program at Franklin Institute (tow70f00)". Retrieved 2007-07-22.
  12. "Legacy Tobacco Documents Library: -- No Title -- (rnw70f00)". Retrieved 2007-07-19.
  13. "Legacy Tobacco Documents Library: ETS / IAQ SCIENTIFIC CONSULTANTS (hxh70e00)". Retrieved 2007-07-19.
  14. "Legacy Tobacco Documents Library: AGREEMENT (aja53f00)". Retrieved 2007-07-19.
  15. Kessler, Gladys (August 17, 2006). "United States of America v. Philip Morris et al" (PDF). United States District Court for the District of Columbia. p. 624. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 21, 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-29.
  16. Cantor, David (October 14, 2012). "Between Prevention and Therapy: Gio Batta Gori and the National Cancer Institute's Diet, Nutrition and Cancer Programme, 1974–1978". Medical History. 56 (4): 531–561. doi:10.1017/mdh.2012.73. PMC 3483769. PMID 23112384.

Following are links to tobacco industry documents from the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library showing work done by Gori for tobacco companies between 1980 and 1999:

Period Link Comment
1980-85 Document pak01c00 Brown and Williamson funded projects. B&W pays Gori $400,000 for the establishment of the Policy Analysis Center.
Other payments follow:
 - 1981: $300,000
 - 1982: $300,000 plus another $300,000
 - 1983: $76,000
 - 1984: $465,000
 - 1985: $253,000
1981-83 Document lhp33f00 B&W pays Franklin Institute Operating Fund (Dr. Gori)
 - 1981: $540,000
 - 1982: $1,275,000
1985-86 Document urj23f00 (page 16) B&W budget: Dr. Gio Gori
 - 1985: $100,000
 - 1986: $100,000
1986 Document pup33f00 (page 3) General Corporate matters: Dr. Gori: $121,111
1986 Document uue21f00 "Dear Dr. Gori: Enclosed is the consultancy agreement between you and Brown and Williamson ... It has been signed for

Brown and Williamson by our President, T. E. Sandefur, Jr."

1986 Document eue21f00 One of many B&W vouchers for Gori lists him as "General Corporate Matters Consultant" Month of September totals about $4K for that month. Credited "as per Gori contract."
1988 Document ksp13f00 B&W pays Gori $150,000
1989 Document fif20f00 B&W pays Gori $132,000 Total amount budgeted for Gori in '89: $1,152,000
1990 Document miq13f00 B&W pays Gori $130,000
1991 Document yiq13f00 B&W pays Gori $130,000
1991 Document hai91f00 Tobacco Institute pays $150,000 to get a white paper written: "principle [sic] author" Gori. Also pays Flamm and Gori $5,000 to write op-ed on the costs of regulation for the Wall Street Journal. Also pays Flamm and Gori $10,000 for another paper.
1992 Document wvp33f00 Gori bills B&W through B&W's legal firm Covington & Burling for $10,737 of "consultation services"
1993 Document xjq13f00 (page 19) B&W pays Gori $40,000; 1994 budget: another $40,000 for "S&H, Regulatory, GTP"
1993 Document npk93f00 "You will be paid for those services at the agreed rate of $200 per hour for each project assigned to you ... and at the rest of $1000 per day for conference-type work" Letter from Ernest Pepples, VP B&W, to Gio Gori
1999 Document sxy15d00 "Please find enclosed Lorillard check for $6000"

Bibliography

Books
  • Gio Batta Gori, Virtually Safe Cigarettes: Reviving an Opportunity Once Tragically Rejected, IOS Press Inc, January 2000. ISBN 1-58603-057-4 ISBN 978-1586030575
  • Gio B. Gori, John Luik, Passive Smoke: The EPA's Betrayal of Science and Policy, The Fraser Institute, 1999. ISBN 0-88975-196-X

Articles

Sources
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