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News & Analysis | REG•WATCH Blog | Press Room
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Scientific Contractor Besmirches RoC's Good Name
The National Institutes of Health are once again under fire for relying on scientific consultants with industry ties. In March, OMB Watch reported
on a contractor essentially running an office which researches reproductive health.
In this instance, the potential for irresponsible contracting is jeopardizing one of the federal government's most important scientific products — the Report on Carcinogens (RoC). NIH hires the Constella Group to prepare the RoC which is intended to be an authoritative study on the most significant cancer-causing substances to which humans are exposed.
However, the Constella Group has ties to Merck and GlaxoSmithKline. The Constella Group pushed to list HPV on the last RoC. Merck and GlaxoSmithKline produce vaccines for HPV. Therefore, those two pharmaceutical giants stand to benefit from the inclusion. Reg•Watch certainly sees that as a major conflict of interest.
Dr. David Michaels at The Pump Handle blog has a more detailed analysis of the story. He points out such controversy calls "the integrity of the product" into question.
Reg•Watch Update: Contracting out Our National Identity
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