UC warning: tobacco ban threatens drug funding

Members of the University of California, USA, Academic Senate have voted 43 to four to reject a proposal to ban donations from tobacco firms. Opponents of the ban cited the threat of a precedent for banning pharmaceutical companies "and other controversial industries" from donating to the University, which received $4.0 billion in contracts and grants revenue from all sources in the last financial year alone, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The UC's board of regents, of which some members proposed the ban, is expected to accept the decision of the academic senate. Tobacco firms accounted for $37.0 million in donations and grants to the University's researchers since 1995.