IU smoking study halted after breach

A study performed on smokers by IU researchers has been temporarily suspended after it was discovered some subjects' names and addresses had been compromised.\nLed by the IU Psychology Department, it is thought to be the longest-running U.S. study of smoking behaviors in the same subject. The study tracked teens through adulthood and followed up on their smoking habits. It began in 1980 and surveyed 8,500 students in Monroe County middle and high schools. The IU researchers continually kept in contact with the students through adult-hood with many follow-up surveys.\nIU professor Peter Finn, head of the Institutional Review Board that halted the study, said the breach "started quite a while ago," as early as 1994, but came to light within the last two weeks. Finn said study workers gave the names and addresses of some subjects involved in the study to class reunion organizers.\nFinn said the Board's review, which is not completed, aims to determine how the breach happened and then figure out what the researchers are going to do about it.\n"We need to make sure that they're clear," he said.\nFinn said that sensitive information beyond the subjects' names and addresses were not compromised.\n"We are waiting for the \nreview board to begin re-examining the situation at this months meeting," said Ann Gellis, associate dean in the Office of Research.\nTo prevent the releasing of any further information by researchers, Gellis said that various educational programs will be given to make sure a situation such as this does not happen again.\n"Some of the people who were disclosed are ones in which we have been in contact with for over 20 years," Gellis said. "The people who wanted the information had the various class numbers of their former classmates, and the researcher had the current contact information."\nThe study, which was initiated by Jim Sherman, IU professor of psychology, had follow-ups with students in 1987, 1994, 1995, 1999 and a new survey was introduced in 2004.\nAs the students became older and graduated from high school, the study became more complicated and now has both a survey for adolescents and adults who have continued to volunteer for the survey as they have grown older.\nFinn said in a best-case scenario, the study will resume in a week and a half. In a worst-case scenario, the study could be fully revoked. But he added he doesn't think the breach will be a "huge problem" and that the issue will be resolved soon.\n"The study is an extremely important study," Finn said. "Some errors have been made that need to be rectified."\n-- Campus Editor Rick Newkirk contributed to this \nreport.