House Members Move On Journal Privatization

Two key members of the House of Representatives are asking the National Institutes of Health's director to again suspend efforts to privatize its monthly journal Environmental Health Perspectives. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences publishes EHP, an open-access journal of research and news on how pollution and other environmental agents impact human health. Many researchers in academia and the public health community oppose privatization of the popular publication. In November 2006, NIEHS began requesting proposals to privatize the journal, but NIH shelved the plan in January after allegations of conflict of interest involving NIEHS Director David A. Schwartz. The House Oversight & Government Reform Committee is investigating the situation, according to its chair, Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.). In an April 9 letter to NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, Waxman and Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio), chair of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee, said they have learned that the National Library of Medicine is resurrecting the privatization plan. Waxman and Kucinich asked Zerhouni to direct the National Library of Medicine to hold off on seeking bid proposals for privatizing EHP until the oversight panel finishes its investigation. The American Chemical Society previously had expressed interest in taking over EHP.