Ethics crackdown at NIH triggers "brain-drain"

The immediate effect of the ethics crackdown at the US National Institutes of Health as a result of earlier disclosure issues involving some of the agency's senior researchers (Marketletter September 18) has been the news that almost 40% of the agency's research scientists have disclosed that they are either seeking alternative employment or considering doing so.

The revelation follows a recent report that drug industry research donations to US universities has fallen (Marketletter October 9), partly in response to "conflict of interest" policies, and critics who previously demanded less drug industry influence are now complaining about the consequences of their beliefs, according to Robert Goldberg, vice president of the New-York-based Center for Medicine in the Public Interest.

Dr Goldberg predicted that the situation would become worse if the Democrats were to gain control of the US House of Representatives after the elections on November 7, as seems likely, according to late opinion polls. He said: "if you think it's bad now, just wait until [Congressmen John] Dingell and [Henry] Waxman get control of the relevant committees...fewer scientists conducting less research, in cooperation with scientists in academia and companies in such areas as stem cell research, Alzheimer's [disease], cancer, etc. That means less investment in these critical areas and less progress. Way to go!"