Nobel Prize Foundation Caught Up in Corruption Probe

By Christopher Alleva

The London Times is reporting that the Nobel Foundation is being rocked with a major scandal.

According to the Times, a member of Nobel medical prize jury also sat on the board of pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca that benefited directly from the award of this year兵s prize.

Prosecutors are investigating the charge that London based AstraZeneca exerted undue influence on the award. The joint winner of this year兵s Nobel Prize for Medicine, Harald zur Hausen, was recognised for his work on the human papilloma virus (HPV), which promoters contend leads to cervical cancer. AstraZeneca has a major stake in two lucrative vaccines that alledgedly control the virus. The company strongly denies any wrongdoing.

This is yet another in black mark in a long list against the Stockholm-based foundation. The Times also reported that Swedish prosecutors have opened a parallel investigation into bribery allegations after several members of Nobel committees admitted enjoying expenses-paid trips to China to tell officials how candidates are selected for prizes.

These serious allegations come on top of dubious awards to Jimmy Carter and Al Gore.

In the category of better late than never, the Times writes oddly, "that members of the Nobel committee are gravely concerned that the reputation of an organisation that honours the highest achievements in human endeavour is under threat from companies and nations hungry for Nobel glory." So it's the nations hungry for Nobel glory that are corrupt not the committee themselves? The recent record would seem to contradict this.

Update: Comment by Richard Henry Lee

The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, separate from the rest of the Nobel prizes awarded by the Swedish based Nobel Foundation. The Norwegian committee is appointed by the Norwegian Storting or parliament, which, following the elections in 2005, went from conservative to liberal.

So it is not surprising that the committee gave the Peace Prize in 2007 to Gore and the IPCC. Alfred Nobel's will states that the prize shall be given to "the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses". One wonders what contortions the committee went through to justify this. Perhaps they were thinking they were helping Gore in his possible quest to win the Presidency.