Cornell University cancer research has been found guilty ... by association that is.

A March 26 New York Times story revealed an organization called the Foundation for Lung Cancer: Early Detection, Prevention & Treatment had research financed by a company called the Vector Group (NYSE:VGR), parent of the Liggett Group, a cigarette manufacturer. Even though the research appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2006, the Times maintained that funding from a cigarette manufacturer discredited the study - not any sort of flaw in the science.

"It sounded promising - a study published two years ago in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine claimed that an annual CT [computed tomography] scan could detect lung cancer early enough to extend a patient's life by at least ten years - a remarkable survival rate for such a deadly disease," CBS correspondent Maggie Rodriguez said on the March 27 "Early Show."