Lung Cancer Study Financed by Cigarette Company

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Dr. Claudia Henschke published a study showing 80% of lung cancer deaths could be prevented through widespread use of CT scans.

"She's the biggest advocate for widespread spiral CT screening," said Dr. Paul Bunn, a lung cancer expert and executive director of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer. "And now her research is tainted."

Dr. Jerome Kassirer, a former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine and the author of a book about conflicts of interest, said he believed that Weill Cornell had created the foundation to hide its receipt of money from a cigarette company. "You have to ask yourself the question, 'Why did the tobacco company want to support her research?' " Dr. Kassirer said. "They want to show that lung cancer is not so bad as everybody thinks because screening can save people; and that's outrageous."

The National Cancer Institute started a new study in 2002 to compare to Dr. Henschke's study. It will pick 55,000 random people to have CT scans or chest X-rays. The results will not be until 2010.