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Archived Comments for: Are social norms associated with smoking in French university students? A survey report on smoking correlates

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  1. Study with severe ideological bias (Dr Bertrand Dautzenberg presidency of funding association ACTIF not declared)

    Pierre Deloie, Retired teacher of biology

    5 May 2009

    Dear Sir,

    My daughter in France has informed me of this study that I have read with interest because my daughter is a student at university and because I am myself a smoker. By consequence, I recognize honestly that I am not favourable for banning smoking in the full space of the French universities. I accept that one must not smoke in the classes and amphitheatres and cafeterias but I don’t understand why smoking can be one day forbidden on the entire campus. I think this is an extremist politic imitating the rigorous current in the United States. It is not very adapted to the French culture.

    I have remarked that the objective of the study is also to show that “smoke-free universities” (I use the terminology of the article) are a good thing. But I have also remarked that in the pages 28 and 29 (in the provisional PDF), the authors of this study have declared that they have “no competing interests”. If you permit me to cite directly:

    “the research was funded by a grant from ACTIF (Alliance Contre le Tabac en Île-de-France), a non-profit association which promotes smoking prevention, with the support of the INPES (National institute of prevention and health education) and the French Cancer Plan."

    I suppose that Americans can’t be conscious of this French tobacco organization but there is in reality a potential competing interest because the second author, who is the professor Bertrand Dautzenberg is a well known anti-tobacco personality in France, is also the president of the tobacco association ACTIF which has funded this study (about tobacco). This is said in the site of the association FESTIF (1). You will see that the Professor Dautzenberg is president of ACTIF. The functions of a president of any association is to develop its activities. So, in the end, if a study about these activities is published in a scientific journal, the functions must be declared. One cannot be the Judge and the Jury in the same time and I believe this is the sense of the obligatory declaration of “competing interest”. By consequence, there is a severe ideological bias in this study favouring anti tobacco measures.

    Outside ACTIF, Dr Dautzenberg has also many other central activities in French anti-tobacco organizations. He is president of the Office de Prévention du Tabagisme, managing director of the company SARL OFT Entreprise. This OFT Entreprise centralises Mr Dautzenberg’s commercial activities by organizing for example the congress of the French national Société Française de Tabacologie. Mr Dautzenberg is also:

    - Coordinator ( for years 2004-2005 and 2009-2010) of Pneumologie Development (2), a commercial society responsible for organizing the congress of the Fédération Française de Pneumologie (lung speciality)(3);

    - Coordinator of the Réseau Européen Hôpital Sans Tabac (tobacco-free Hospitals european network)(4). This network, which receives funding by Pfizer (a pharmaceutical company) is under control of OFT. RESH makes publicity for nicotine patches in hospitals.

    - Coordinator of “Pour une vie sans tabac” (no tobacco life) HELP campaign funded by the European Commission.

    Maybe I forget other organisations but this is a first list which shows clearly that the content of the study on the social norms of French university students is certainly ideologically influenced (biased) by the non-declared affiliations of one the authors of this study, particularly of ACTIF.

    On a qualitative level, I found strange that among the authors of a study wanting to “evaluate the potential impact of a social norm prevention approach on substance use reduction”, I couldn’t find one sociologist or psychologist (social scientists). All the authors work for French institutions therefore I suppose again that Americans can’t be conscious of this fact. Truly, the “sociological” tone of this study is evident particularly with the use of complex terms such as “reactance” and others. Nevertheless, few people (even psychologists and sociologists) know that this vocabulary comes, not from philosophy but from electric engineering. I don’t know if “inductance” and “capacitance” also exist in the sociology of social norms but this would be interesting to know. I say this because in France a famous book by Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont (title: “Impostures intellectuelles” at editions Odile Jacob) about the abuse of this terminology was received with a great success.

    My summary and conclusion is that it is very important for the respect of the readers that the authors declare all their functions in a study, particularly when the study is funded by an association presided by one of the authors. If what I have said is not correct, I desire that the author prove it. This is a scientific rule.

    With respect,

    P. Deloie



    NOTES:

    (1) http://www.festif.org (One must click on the second column called “Association ACTIF” and then on the “Administratif” menu. “Administratif” in French (colloquial but not literal) means the Staff.

    (2) http://www.congres-pneumologie.fr/pneumodev/PneumoDev.asp?ID=33

    (3) http://www.ffpneumologie.org

    (3) http://fr.help-eu.com/pages/index-1.html

    Competing interests

    no

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