Scientists Decry New Nih Ethics Rules

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The new conflict-of-interest rules put in place by the National Institutes of Health go too far, says the Assembly of Scientists, a group organized to represent the concerns of NIH intramural scientists regarding these ethics issues.

The Assembly of Scientists agrees that rules are necessary to ensure that outside activities of intramural scientists don't create an actual or apparent conflict of interest. But the group worries that the new rules--specifically those limiting employees' stock holdings in drug and biotech companies--will make it difficult to keep talented staff and recruit new researchers.

The group's 19-member executive committee met with NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni late last month about these concerns. The meeting was useful and productive, according to executive committee member Alan N. Schechter, a section chief in the National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases.

Zerhouni "understands the seriousness with which scientists are responding to the very severe and abrupt changes in policy," Schechter tells C&EN. "He's made a commitment to do as much as he can to modify these changes to make the situation more conducive to continuing a strong NIH intramural program."

Concern over these rules is not limited to NIH staff. In a letter to Zerhouni, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) questioned the agency's "shotgun approach" to the issue. "The deleterious effect of these rules on the ability of the NIH to recruit and retain the caliber of scientists required by its special mission is of great concern to me," Van Hollen wrote.