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| Industry-Funded Research on the Rise at U.S. Universities |
| Universities are receiving more and more of their funding from commercial interests. Some campuses get as much as 28 percent of their research budget from industry, according to a recent report, which says that commercial funding of university research has more than doubled since 1970. "It is no surprise that these dollars often come with strings attached," said Sheldon Krimsky, author of "Science in the Private Interest: Has the Lure of Profits Corrupted Biomedical Research?" speaking at a recent press briefing. "The public loses out because they often never hear about safety concerns of products they use," Krimsky said. "On the flip side, when a university study finds that a product is safe, most people do not realize that the research was, in fact, paid for by the manufacturers themselves." This has implications for environmental policy, which often depends on the availability of unbiased data. How can we effectively make decisions about the environmental and health impacts of products or chemicals if all the studies on them are funded by the companies that make them? Krimsky and other critics of commercial funding of scientific research say universities should only accept corporate research funding that does not prohibit researchers from publishing their findings, even if those findings reveal health or safety concerns about the product. "We must work to ensure that conflicts of interest do not unduly hinder scientific research and effective policy. Otherwise, we risk relinquishing the benefits of scientific advancement for the sake of corporate interests -- a trade that the American people cannot afford to make," said U.S. Representative Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, speaking at the same briefing. In order to protect ourselves and our environment, we need uncompromised, independent research, which we can get only if we limit the influence of commercial interests on the research process. |
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106 East Doty Street, Suite 200 § Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Phone: 608-252-9800 § Fax: 608-252-9828
Email: [email protected]
