Subject: Conflict of interest policy at Harvard (guru)..
Date: Fri, 26 May 2000 163949 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Roy L. Beavers"
To: emfguru
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Hi everybody:
Do you remember (not so many days ago), guru published some messages
(now on his website) about the "conflict of interest" problem in EMF
research..... You may recall the the "star story" of that triad of
messages was an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine --
written by **Dr. Marcia Angell**..... Remember her name, I said.....
The news item below mentions her name again as it reports on a very
important policy decision that is being instituted by the medical
school at Harvard University....
It is INDEED ... "time for a 'national dialogue' involving top
universities, government and industry to improve conflict of
interest policies...."** (Quoted from story below.)
But ... let it NOT become another of the usual "chummy" ... "insider" ...
affairs, where the **"establishment" FOX ends up guarding the public
interest chicken coop.......**
The dialogue that is **needed** is one that would be MANAGED by a totally
**INDEPENDENT Commission** of highly qualified "outsiders" ... selected
from the PUBLIC domain...... **And NOT subject to selction or nomination
by those professions or activities that are being scrutinized....**
And...... **This 'dialogue' should not be limited to the scientists or
medical community!!!** This problem is so endemic in our society that
there are few who have the right to "throw the first stone." The U.S.
political/governmental/bureaucratic system is (perhaps) even more
at fault than the poor medical professors at Harvard (with their
$100,000 salaries plus whatever "rake" they can promote) who seem
to have become the "targets" of the action below.... They are still
the "small fry" in this game as it is being played in America today....
**The INITIAL target of such a dialogue must be the halls of the
capitol building at the end of Pennsylvania Avenue......**
Cheerio..... See below.....!!!
Roy Beavers (EMFguru) You gotta SHOWME -- I'm from Missouri....
roy@emfguru.com
.....It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.....
NEW!!! Website... http://emfguru.com
...................People are more important than profits.................
Missed opportunity...
$$$$$ We could have changed the corrupted system!! $$$$$
McCain !!
DO YOU KNOW OF OTHERS WHO SHOULD BE ON THIS LIST???
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12:43 PM ET 05/26/00
Harvard Won't Ease Ethics Rules
BOSTON (AP) _ Harvard Medical School officials have decided
against easing strict conflict-of-interest rules, a move that would
have allowed researchers to make more money through outside work.
In a memo to faculty Thursday, Joseph Martin, dean of the
faculty of medicine, canceled a June 1 meeting to discuss the
proposed policy changes.
``I believe that the most important role academic medicine can
have in clinical research today is to try to bolster the public's
faith in the veracity and ethical underpinnings of this noble
endeavor,'' Martin said.
Dr. Marcia Angell, editor of the New England Journal of
Medicine, said she was delighted with the decision.
``I was concerned that Harvard was going to relax its
guidelines,'' said Angell, who last week wrote a withering critique
of the research system, saying science is being compromised by the
growing influence of industry money.
Harvard researchers are prohibited from devoting more than 20
percent of their time to work outside of Harvard. They are also
barred from holding more than $20,000 worth of stock in a company
that funds research in their lab. Restrictions also apply when they
are receiving fees or royalties from a company.
The ethics policy, widely considered the toughest in the nation,
covers about 8,000 faculty members in 17 affiliated institutions in
the Boston area.
A committee assembled by Martin in 1998 recommended months ago
that Harvard medical faculty be able to own larger amounts of stock
and receive higher consultant fees, and still do company-sponsored
research.
Researchers can have as much financial interest in a company as
they want as long as that company does not pay for research in
their lab, the school stressed. The business and the research must
be kept separate, said Margaret Dale, an associate dean at the
medical school who administers ethics rules.
In his memo, Martin called for a ``national dialogue'' involving
top universities, government and industry to improve
conflict-of-interest policies.
Martin's decision came one day after the University of
Pennsylvania said it would re-evaluate its policy following the
death of a young volunteer in a gene therapy experiment and
questions about a researcher's ties to a private company. Martin
was a member of a panel whose report on the case was issued
Wednesday.
Earlier this week, federal health officials proposed fines of up
to $250,000 for scientists who violate medical research rules and
fines of $1 million for rule-breaking universities or hospitals.
Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala said the
government will hold responsible not just the scientist at fault
but the institution.
Any proposal must go through Congress, but Shalala announced
additional steps that will start immediately: better training of
the local medical boards primarily responsible for overseeing
patient safety, tougher requirements that patients be fully
informed of research risks and improved monitoring of how patients
fare day-to-day.
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Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com