Public health agency linked to chemical industry

[Guest guest]

Hmmmmm, another assessment report slanted towards industry. I see a

pattern here...

http://www.latimes.com/services/site/premium/access-

registered.intercept

> > THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

> > Public health agency linked to chemical industry

> > The work of a federal risk-assessment center is guided by a

company

with

> > manufacturing ties. Some scientists see bias.

> > By Marla Cone

> > Times Staff Writer

> >

> > March 4, 2007

> >

> > For nearly a decade, a federal agency has been responsible for

assessing the

> > dangers that chemicals pose to reproductive health. But much of

the

agency's

> > work has been conducted by a private consulting company that has

close

ties

> > to the chemical industry, including manufacturers of a compound

in

plastics

> > that has been linked to reproductive damage.

>

> ...

In 1998, the Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human

Reproduction

was

established within the National Institutes of Health to assess the

dangers

of chemicals and help determine which ones should be regulated.

Sciences

International, an andria, Va., consulting firm that has been

funded

by

more than 50 industrial companies, has played a key role in the

center's

activities, reviewing the risks of chemicals, preparing reports, and

helping

select members of its scientific review panel and setting their

agendas,

according to government and company documents.

The company produces the first draft of the center's reports on the

risks of

chemicals, including a new one on bisphenol A, a widely used

compound

in

polycarbonate plastic food containers, including baby bottles, as

well

as

lining for food cans.

The center's work is considered important to public health because

people

are exposed to hundreds of chemicals that have been shown to skew the

reproductive systems of newborn lab animals and could be causing

similar

damage in humans. Chemical companies and industry groups have

staunchly

opposed regulation of the compounds and have developed their own

research

to dispute studies by government and university scientists.

The bisphenol A report, which some scientists say has a pro-industry

bias,

is a public document scheduled for review by the center's scientific

panel

on Monday. Employees of Sciences International involved in writing

it

will

preside over the meeting.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los

Angeles)

in

a Wednesday letter called for an explanation of the company's role

and

disclosure of its potential conflicts of interest before the panel

convenes Monday. Boxer chairs the Senate's environmental committee

and

Waxman

chairs the House's government oversight and reform committee.

Sciences International executives declined to comment to The Times,

referring all questions to the National Institute of Environmental

Health

Sciences.

Shelby, director of the federal reproductive health center,

which

is based in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park, also declined to

discuss

Sciences International.

But Robin Mackar, a spokeswoman for the National Institute of

Environmental Health Sciences, which oversees the reproductive

center,

said

Sciences

International " has worked for the center since 1998 without any

problems "

and has participated in reports on 17 chemicals.

" These contractors have no decision-making or analytical

responsibilities, " she said.

But according to company and government websites and Federal Register

documents, Sciences International is involved in management and

plays a

principal scientific investigative role at the federal center. The

company

has a $5-million contract with the center, according to an NIEHS

document.

" The most significant project at our firm is the management of the

National Toxicology Program's Center for the Evaluation of Risks to

Human

Reproduction, " the Sciences International website says. It says half

its

clients are from the private sector, but its health studies are

independent and it " is proud of its reputation for objective

science. "

Its current website contains no list of industry clients. But a 2006

version names BASF and Dow Chemical - which manufacture the plastics

compound BPA--

as well as DuPont, Chevron, ExxonMobil, 3-M, Union Carbide, the

National

Assn. of Manufacturers, and 45 other manufacturing companies and

industry

groups.

In 1999, Sciences International represented R.J. Reynolds Tobacco

Co.

in

fighting an Environmental Protection Agency proposal to regulate a

pesticide used on tobacco crops. In 2004, its vice president, Dr.

Scialli,

who is identified as the federal center's " principal investigator, "

co-wrote a

study with a Dow Chemical Co. researcher on how to extrapolate data

from

animal tests to humans.

In addition, another Sciences International employee who works at the

federal agency, Gloria Jahnke, has collaborated nine times on

chemicals

research with another company that gets funding from the plastics

industry, according to a Times review of medical publications.

Sciences International's president boasted about its close

collaboration

with the federal reproductive health center, as well as the EPA and

other

federal agencies, in a letter soliciting R.J. Reynolds as a client in

1999.

Signed by company founder , the letter stated that

Sciences International " serves the private sector, including many

trade

associations, on a wide range of health and risk assessment issues.

However, we are different from most other consulting firms in that

we

also

currently serve government agencies, " which, the letter said, gives

the

company " a

unique credibility to negotiate with regulators on behalf of our

private

sector clients. "

The role of Sciences International in the federal center's work came

to

the attention of Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit advocacy

group

focused on environmental health, last month after some scientists

who

saw

the

report on BPA complained that it was biased toward the industry's

position

that

low doses have no effect.

" We are unaware of any other instance in which nearly all of the

functions

of a public health agency have been outsourced to a private entity, "

wrote

Wiles, the working group's executive director, in a letter

to

the

director of the NIH's National Toxicology Program, which runs the

reproductive health center. " Questions about the objectivity and

adequacy

of this review process and the reviewers must be resolved before a

final

decision on BPA is reached. "

Debate over BPA is one of the most contentious environmental health

issues

faced by government and industry. Traces are found in the bodies of

nearly

all Americans tested, and low levels - similar to amounts that can

leach

from infant and water bottles - mimic estrogen and have caused

genetic

changes in animals that lead to prostate cancer, as well as decreased

testosterone, low sperm counts and signs of early female puberty,

according to more than 100 government-funded studies. About a dozen

industry-funded

studies found no effects.

Fred vom Saal, a University of Missouri-Columbia scientist conducting

NIH-funded BPA research, said the draft report written by Sciences

International downplays the risks of the plastics chemical and makes

critical mistakes.

" It's a combination of inaccurate information and blatant bias as it

exists

in its draft form, " vom Saal said. " They specifically ignore fatal

flaws

in

industry-sponsored publications. " He said the 300-page report

misrepresented

government-funded studies that found effects by inaccurately

portraying

their findings, and failed to note industry funding of some studies

cited.

Shelby, the center's director, in a late February memo to the

Environmental Working Group, said Sciences International reviews the

scientific

literature on chemicals and writes the basic reports, but that

conclusions

are

prepared by the center's panel of independent scientists,

which " serves

to

minimize

or eliminate any bias that might possibly be introduced by the

contractor. "

Shelby wrote that there are no requirements for Sciences

International

or

other contractors to disclose financial conflicts of interest.

Mackar, of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences,

said

the chemical reviews are " all open and public " and " we're confident

in

our

scientific panel. "

============== paragraph deleted

....A Federal Register document describing the center's creation in

1998

said

scientists from Sciences International and the center " constitute a

core

committee " that " selects the expert panel membership and establishes

the

meeting agenda. "

marla.cone@...