NIH Turns Blind Eye to Academics' Financial Conflicts, Audit Says

Autor/in	Brainard, Jeffrey
Titel	NIH Turns Blind Eye to Academics' Financial Conflicts, Audit Says
Quelle	In: Chronicle of Higher Education, 54 (2008) 21, (1 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0009-5982
Schlagwörter	Human Services; Conflict of Interest; Accountability; Ethics; Biology; Financial Audits; Researchers; Universities + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Humanitäre Hilfe; Interessenkonflikt; Verantwortung; Ethik; Biologie; Researcher; Forscher; University; Universität
Abstract	Hundreds of financial conflicts of interest among university researchers have not been investigated by the National Institutes of Health, an agency that should police them, according to a new audit report. The report, by the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services--NIH's parent agency--describes a dysfunctional system that falls short of public accountability. It relies largely on universities with NIH grants to police themselves, merely requiring them to notify the agency that conflicts were resolved. More than 90 percent of such notices do not explain how the institutions handled the problems. Worse, the NIH rarely asks universities to provide these missing details, the inspector general said in the January audit. The NIH, in a response, argued that it was following existing regulations, which provide "an appropriate framework for the effective management" of conflicts and do not require the agency to gather details from universities. But one bioethicist observed that if universities' reports about conflicts contain no useful information, their submission is a pointless exercise. Jeffrey P. Kahn, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, said the NIH "has no evidence to support their assertion that things are working fine." (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	Chronicle of Higher Education. 1255 23rd Street NW Suite 700, Washington, DC 20037. Tel: 800-728-2803; e-mail: circulation@chronicle.com; Web site: http://chronicle.com/
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10