Science and conflicts of interest: Ties to industry revealed
Seventeen of 18 scientists who wrote a controversial editorial critical of Europe's plan to regulate endocrine-disrupting chemicals have past or current ties to industries.
Seventeen of 18 scientists who wrote a controversial editorial critical of the European Commission's plan to regulate endocrine-disrupting chemicals have past or current ties to industries. [Full story here.]
Bas Blaauboer, Editor-Europe, Toxicology in Vitro, and professor of toxicology, Utrecht University, the Netherlands
Received $529,370 in research funding from the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) between April, 2008 and March, 2010. A member of Risk 21, a risk assessment project at the Health and Environmental Science Institute, which is part of the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI), funded by food, agricultural, chemical, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.
Abby C. Collier, Section Editor, Chemico-Biological Interactions, and associate professor, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii, United States
Published a study partly supported by the "Human Drug Conjugation Consortium" (AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, F. Hoffman-La Roche, Lilly, Novartis, Pfizer, and Wyeth-Ayerst) in 2012. Her lab is partly funded by private foundations.
Wolfgang Dekant, Editor-in-Chief, Toxicology Letters, and professor of toxicology, University of Würzburg, Germany
Received funding for a 2008 study on bisphenol A (BPA) from the American Chemistry Council. Signed 18 consultancy contracts with non-disclosed private companies between 2007 and 2012. Member of the scientific advisory panel of the Research Institute for Fragrance Material, an organization for the fragrance, detergents and cosmetics industry. Former member of an advisory group for the German Association of the Automotive Industry. Receives research funding from Honeywell, since 2006. Received funding for a 2013 study from the Tetrahydrofuran Task Force, a consortium of U.S. manufacturers of tetrahydrofuran, European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) and The Toxicology Forum. Collaborated with industry lobby group International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) in 2005.
Daniel R. Dietrich, Editor-in-Chief, Chemico-Biological Interactions, and head of Environmental Toxicology Research Group, University of Konstanz, Germany
Former expert for the European Center for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals (ECETOC), funded by chemical, pesticide and oil companies. Has co-authored research with employees of Dow Europe and AstraZeneca and Bayer Healthcare.
Nigel Gooderham, Editor-in-Chief, Toxicology Research, and professor of molecular toxicology, Imperial College London, England
Member of the expert panel of the U.S. Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association, the trade association of the flavor industry. Received research funds from GlaxoSmithKline and pesticide manufacturer Syngenta and collaborated with Nestlé. Former consultant for Procter & Gamble and shareholder of Banco Santander and Hargreaves Lansdown. Has co-authored studies with employees of GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and Syngenta.
Gio Batta Gori, Editor-in-chief, Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology
Tobacco industry consultant with a financial income of several million dollars from 1980 until 1999. "Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology" is owned by the International Society of Regulatory Toxicology & Pharmacology, which has been supported by the American Chemistry Council, Dow AgroSciences, Coca-Cola, Monsanto, and The Weinberg Group.
Alan L. Harvey, Editor-in-Chief, Toxicon, and professor of pharmacology, Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, Scotland
His research group at the Strathclyde Institute for Drug Research says it has "active links" with Pfizer, Allergan, Schering Plough, Johnston Matthey, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca.
A. Wallace Hayes, Editor-Americas, Human and Experimental Toxicology, Editor-in-Chief, Food and Chemical Toxicology, and Senior Science Advisor, Spherix Consulting, United States
Former employee of the Rohm and Haas Company, now a subsidiary of Dow Chemicals, from 1980-1984, and of tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds, 1984-1991; former vice president for "corporate product integrity" at the Gillette Company; former principal and responsible for product safety at Gradient Corp. Current senior science advisor at Spherix Consulting.
Jan Hengstler, Editor-in-Chief, Archives of Toxicology, and Director of Leibniz Research Centre, Technical University of Dortmund, Germany
Lead author of a 2011 review on bisphenol A (BPA) concluding that "exposure represents no noteworthy risk to the health of the human population, including newborns and babies". It was written with an employee of Bayer Schering Pharma, a division of Bayer AG, the leading bisphenol A producer, two private consultants and Wolfgang Völkel, who was commissioned by the American Chemistry Council for another review on BPA with Wolfgang Dekant (see above) in 2008.
James P. Kehrer, Editor-in-Chief, Toxicology Letters, and professor and dean of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences, University of Alberta, Canada
Received $22,500 from tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds in 1997, according to his curriculum vitae. Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Alberta, which received a $7 million gift from the Katz Group in 2007, matched by $5.5 million from pharmaceutical companies.
Florian Lang, Editor-in-Chief, Toxins, and head of physiology, University of Tübingen, Germany
Co-inventor of 17 patents for substances assigned to pharmaceutical giant Merck.
Albert Li, Section Editor, Chemico-Biological Interactions, and CEO, In Vitro ADMET Laboratories LLC, United States
Former employee of Monsanto, 1982-1993. Co-founder, chairman and CEO of four biotechnology companies since 2004. Received the Monsanto Achievement Award (1985), the Monsanto Searle Research Alert Award (1992), and the Recognition Award from Ciba Pharmaceuticals Preclinical Safety (1995).
Hans Marquardt, Editor-in-Chief, Toxicology, and (retired) Department of Toxicology, Hamburg University Medical School, Germany
Served on scientific advisory board for tobacco giant Philip Morris' "External Research Program," 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007,receiving $51,076 for his 2002-2003 work.
Frans P. Nijkamp, Editor-in-Chief, European Journal of Pharmacology, and former chair of pharmacology and pathophysiology, Utrecht University, the Netherlands
CEO of CURAX BV, a private contract research organization (CRO) affiliated with the industry lobby group ILSI Europe, "testing new chemical entities for the pharmaceutical industry as well as new ingredients for the food industry." Received a $31,600 award from AzkoNobel in 2006.
Olavi Pelkonen, Editor-in-Chief, Frontiers in Predictive Toxicology, and professor of pharmacology (emeritus) and former head of pharmacology and toxicology, University of Oulu, Finland
Ranked "Risk level 3" by the European Medicines Agency for his "direct interests in the pharmaceutical industry" such as consultancies for Pfizer, Orion Pharma, UCB Pharma or Xemet.
Kai Savolainen, Editor-Europe and Rest of the World, Human and Experimental Toxicology, and director, Nanosafety Research Centre, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health
Involved in European research projects including private partners and partial private fundings, such as NANOREG (BASF, Arkema France, Bayer MaterialScience AG), NANODEVICE, NANOKEM, NANOSUSTAIN and NANEX. His employer (Finnish Institute of Occupational Health) is an affiliate member of the Nanotechnology Industries Association.
Kerstin Stemmer, Associate Editor, Toxicology in Vitro, and head of metabolism and cancer at Institute for Diabetes and Obesity, Helmholtz Centre Münich, Germany
Did her doctoral thesis in collaboration with Bayer-Schering AG. Has co-authored with employees of Bayer Healthcare AG, Eli Lilly and Co. and Hoffmann-La Roche with research funds from Marcadia Biotech and Roche Pharmaceuticals. Awarded the Nycomed Junior Investigator Award in 2010.
Sonja von Aulock, Editor-in-Chief, ALTEX, and scientist, Biochemical Pharmacology, University of Konstanz, Germany
No known links to industry.
