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The editor of the British Medical Journal has resigned from his honorary
position as professor of medical journalism at Nottingham University after he
balloted his readers about a tobacco company donation to the university. Richard
Smith stepped down in protest over the £3.8 million gift from British
American Tobacco. “By taking money…the University of Nottingham debases
itself,” he argued in an editorial inviting readers to vote on the journal’s
website. Fifty-four per cent of readers said Smith should resign and 84 per cent
said the university should give the money back.