Society of Environmental Journalists

[Guest guest]

This is from the Occ-Env.Med group

Submitted by Wallinga, MD

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http://notes.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.nsf/80c21fb7123767b586256cd0000f3f9

1/AE8F1D1844B6CC87862572B4000CFFDE?OpenDocument

Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ)

TipSheet item

EXCERPT as follows

Publication date: Apr. 4, 2007

CONGRESS PUSHES PROBE ON NIEHS DIRECTOR AS MAGAZINE LANGUISHES

A House investigative subcommittee has launched a major probe into

the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences, putting

its director under a cloud as the agency's world-renowned

environmental health magazine remained in jeopardy.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who chairs the House Oversight

Subcommittee on Domestic Policy, and full Oversight Committee

Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-CA), sent a letter March 30, 2007, to

NIEHS Director A. Schwartz, requesting a wide range of

documents. They related not only to Schwartz's

planned " privatization " of NIEHS' flagship magazine, Environmental

Health Perspectives, but also to Schwartz's personal conduct as

director.

The letter was a blockbuster.

[http://oversight.house.gov/Documents/20070402143212-08373.pdf]

Allegations of waste, conflict of interest, political manipulation,

and impropriety have swirled around the agency, which Schwartz took

over as director in April 2005. The subcommittee's document request

seemed calculated to resolve many of those allegations by either

proving or disproving them with documentary evidence.

One of several triggers for the probe has been Schwartz's aggressive

push to privatize, cut back, and reduce access to Environmental

Health Perspectives, widely regarded as one of the most successful

of U.S. scientific journals and a keystone in projecting NIEHS'

stature as a global research leader. ...Many in the public health

community fear that Schwartz's dogged efforts to cut the magazine

are actually an effort to silence it.....

........ ....

FURTHER SOURCES

" ;Nominee For NIEHS Has Second Thoughts; Schwartz Says Conflict

Rules Limit Recruiting, " Washington Post, March 30, 2005, by Rick

Weiss.

" ;Official To Accept NIH Position After Zerhouni Promises Looser

Conflict-of-Interest Guidelines, " Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report

via Medical News Today, May 20, 2005. See also " ;Doctor Reconsiders,

Will Take NIH Job, " Washington Post, May 18, 2005, by Dan Eggen and

Rick Weiss with wires (scroll down).

" ;Health Agency Watchdog To Re-Examine 103 Ethics Cases, " Associated

Press via San Diego Union-Tribune, March 29, 2007, by Rita Beamish.

Previous Stories: WatchDogs of March 7, 2007, and Jan. 24, 2007.