ICAP and the perils of partnership

Alcohol industry involvement in science: A systematic review of the perspectives of the alcohol research community

“…The possible value of relationships with the international research community for influencing policy makers has been of particular concern 2, 3, 20, 29, 30, 31, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, with the International Center for Alcohol Policies (ICAP), an alcohol industry organisation created by major global producers being prominent 18, 46, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70. ICAP activities in low and middle income countries have received widespread attention 18, 57, 58, 62, 64, 69, 71.…”

“…Industry actors collectively fund such organisations which claim to be concerned with the social aspects of the harms done by alcohol that are; ‘distanced from obvious corporate interests by funding “not‐for‐profit” organisations with innocuous names’ 46 like ICAP. Tobacco control researchers refer to such organisations as ‘front groups’ 72.…”

“…Scientific meetings, conferences and publications are prominent among concerns 46. According to Babor and Robaina 3;

‘ ICAP has sponsored 12 other conferences, involving a mixture of industry representatives, academics, and government officials, in Europe, Africa, and Asia between 2003 and 2006… ICAP has published 10 books in its Alcohol and Society series, most dealing with scientific and public policy issues.

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“…Bias could also have broader adverse impacts on research topic areas, research agendas, individual researchers, as well as institutions such as universities, academic conferences and societies and journals 2, 3, 15, 16, 18 25, 26, 29, 37, 38, 41, 42, 46, 51, 52, 56, 59, 61, 64, 65, 66, 78 80, 81, 87, 89, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105.…”

“…To the extent that funding for a particular research question is dictated by commercial reasons, it is likely to alter the research agenda’ 16. Other scientists also address cumulative bias on topic areas and resulting agenda setting 25, 46, 56, 80, 86, 99. According to Stein 37, ‘industry only provides funding for certain kinds of issue, and fails to address many key research and policy questions’ 37.…”