Gio Batta Gori

Gio Batta Gori is an American 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.manta.com/c/mt7kbjx/health-policy-center|title=Health Policy Center|website=Manta}} 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,{{Cite web |title=Gio Batta Gori - SourceWatch |url=https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Gio_Batta_Gori |access-date=2024-05-02 |website=www.sourcewatch.org}} funded by Brown & Williamson. He is the editor-in-chief of the journal Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology.{{Cite web|url=https://www.journals.elsevier.com/regulatory-toxicology-and-pharmacology/editorial-board/|title=Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology Editorial Board|via=www.journals.elsevier.com}}

He has consulted for the tobacco industry, challenging specific scientific claims concerning the risks associated with tobacco use.[http://www.tobacco.neu.edu/litigation/cases/DOJ/20060817KESSLEROPINIONAMENDED.pdf United States of America v. Philip Morris et al.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070721102638/http://www.tobacco.neu.edu/litigation/cases/DOJ/20060817KESSLEROPINIONAMENDED.pdf |date=2007-07-21 }}, Final Opinion of Judge Gladys Kessler, United States District Court for the District of Columbia, p. 162. Accessed October 4, 2007.[http://www.usdoj.gov/civil/cases/tobacco2/20040816%20US%20FACTUAL%20MEMO%20w%20BkMks.pdf 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. 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.Gori, Gio B. Virtually Safe Cigarettes: Reviving an Opportunity Once Tragically Rejected. IOS Press, 2000.Gori, Gio B. "Less Hazardous Smokes?" Regulation 25:4 (Winter 2002): 66-72.Gori, Gio B., "Pursuing Less Risky Smokes -- At Last." Regulation 32:2 (Summer 2009): 3-4.

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.{{Cite web |title=Gio Batta Gori - SourceWatch |url=https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Gio_Batta_Gori |access-date=2024-05-02 |website=www.sourcewatch.org}} 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.{{cite web |url=http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/frh21e00 |title=Legacy Tobacco Documents Library: DR. GIO BATTA GORI (frh21e00) |accessdate=2007-07-19 |format= |website=}}

Links with the tobacco industry

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).{{cite web |url=http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/wpw70f00 |title=Legacy Tobacco Documents Library: The Franklin Institute Policy Analysis C... (wpw70f00) |accessdate=2007-07-19 |format= |website=}} Following its initial formation, FIPAC continued to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding annually from B&W.{{cite web |url=http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/krn33f00 |title=Legacy Tobacco Documents Library: -- No Title -- (krn33f00) |accessdate=2007-07-19 |format= |website=}}{{cite web |url=http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/tow70f00 |title=Legacy Tobacco Documents Library: For contribution to Policy Analysis Center program at Franklin Institute (tow70f00)|accessdate=2007-07-22 |format= |website=}}{{cite web |url=http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/rnw70f00 |title=Legacy Tobacco Documents Library: -- No Title -- (rnw70f00) |accessdate=2007-07-19 |format= |website=}} 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.{{cite web |url=http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/hxh70e00 |title=Legacy Tobacco Documents Library: ETS / IAQ SCIENTIFIC CONSULTANTS (hxh70e00) |accessdate=2007-07-19 |format= |website=}} 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.{{cite web |url=http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/aja53f00 |title=Legacy Tobacco Documents Library: AGREEMENT (aja53f00) |accessdate=2007-07-19 |format= |website=}} 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, falsely claimed 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.{{cite web | url = http://www.tobacco.neu.edu/litigation/cases/DOJ/20060817KESSLEROPINIONAMENDED.pdf | title = United States of America v. Philip Morris et al. | publisher = United States District Court for the District of Columbia | last = Kessler | first = Gladys | accessdate = 2007-07-29 | date = August 17, 2006 | page = 624 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070721102638/http://www.tobacco.neu.edu/litigation/cases/DOJ/20060817KESSLEROPINIONAMENDED.pdf | archivedate = July 21, 2007 }}

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.{{Cite journal|title=Between Prevention and Therapy: Gio Batta Gori and the National Cancer Institute's Diet, Nutrition and Cancer Programme, 1974–1978|first=David|last=Cantor|date=October 14, 2012|journal=Medical History|volume=56|issue=4|pages=531–561|doi=10.1017/mdh.2012.73|pmid=23112384|pmc=3483769}} Other academics who have criticised Gori include Richard Kluger and Devra Davis.

Works

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}}

References

Sources

Text adapted from [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Gio_Batta_Gori Gio Batta Gori - SourceWatch] under the GFDL

Category:Smoking in the United States

Category:Living people

Category:Brown & Williamson

Category:American academic journal editors

Category:American epidemiologists

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)