Health group loses $5 m Gates Foundation grant: its chair was cigarette company director. The National Council Against Smoking (NCAS) welcomes the decision by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to cut its financial support for tobacco control programmes in Africa because the money was managed by a Canadian health research agency whose chairperson was a director of Canada’s largest cigarette company. “It may seem odd that the NCAS supports the withdrawal of money from tobacco control activities, but there was an important principle involved. Namely, protecting public policies from tobacco industry interference and respecting responsibilities under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), a global tobacco treaty”, says Dr Yussuf Saloojee, executive director of the NCAS