Integrity In Science

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http://www.cspinet.org/integrity/

 

Integrity In Science

 

 

Over the last thirty years, the commercialization of science in the United

States and around the world has increased dramatically. The revolution in

genetics, patent protections for bioengineered molecules, laws strengthening

intellectual property rights, and the 1980 Bayh-Dole Act authorizing licensing

and patenting of results from federally-sponsored research have all created new

incentives for scientists, clinicians, and academic institutions to join forces

with for-profit industry in an unprecedented array of entrepreneurial

activities.

 

Although many have cheered partnerships between industry and the research

community, it is also acknowledged that they entail conflicts of interest that

may compromise the judgment of trusted professionals, the credibility of

research institutions and scientific journals, the safety and transparency of

human subjects research, the norms of free inquiry, and the legitimacy of

science-based policy.

 

For example:

There is strong evidence that researchers’ financial ties to chemical,

pharmaceutical, or tobacco manufacturers directly influence their published

positions in supporting the benefit or downplaying the harm of the

manufacturer’s product.

 

 

A growing body of evidence indicates that pharmaceutical industry gifts and

inducements bias clinician judgment and influence doctor’s prescribing

practices.

 

 

There are well-known cases of industry seeking to discredit or prevent the

publication of research results that are critical of its products.

 

 

Studies of life-science faculty indicate that researchers with industry

funding are more likely to withhold research results in order to secure

commercial advantage.

 

 

Increasingly, the same academic institutions that are responsible for

oversight of scientific integrity and human subjects protection are entering

financial relationships with the industries whose product-evaluations they

oversee.

In response to the commercialization of science and the growing problem of

conflicts of interest, the Integrity in Science Project seeks to:

raise awareness about the role that corporate funding and other corporate

interests play in scientific research, oversight, and publication;

 

 

investigate and publicize conflicts of interest and other potentially

destructive influences of industry-sponsored science;

 

 

advocate for full disclosure of funding sources by individuals, governmental

and non-governmental organizations that conduct, regulate, or provide oversight

of scientific investigation or promote specific scientific findings;

 

 

encourage policy-makers at all levels of government to seek balance on expert

advisory committees and to provide public, web-based access to

conflict-of-interest information collected in the course of committee formation;

 

 

encourage journalists to routinely ask scientists and others about their

possible conflicts of interests and to provide this information to the public.

 

 

 

 

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