Scientists for sale: innovation vs. ethics.

• Author: Howley, Kerry
• Position: Medical ethics rules - Brief Article

IN DECEMBER 2003, the Los Angeles Times outed several scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) who were being paid to research certain drugs' effects while collecting hefty consulting fees from the same drugs' makers. Embarrassed, NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni responded last February with draconian ethics rules that preclude employees from consulting for biomedical companies, accepting monetary prizes, or owning stock in drug companies.

Predictably, the scientists are outraged. "Even my secretary is going to have to sell her stock," said Ezekiel Emanuel, chairman of the agency's department of clinical bioethics, at a February, NIH meeting. "How much sense does that make?" In one case, a scientist was forced to turn down an unpaid adjunct professorship because of the corrupting influence of a free parking spot.

The National Assembly of Scientists, an organization representing...