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Claims of Industry Tampering with Science Are Overblown 

scientists' ties to industry and point to a Scientific progress has long benefited from collaboration between science and business -- so concludes a new report from the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), a non-profit group critical of unscientific claims. Nevertheless, self-appointed "consumer advocacy" groups now routinely assert that science is being perverted byhandful of scandals to make their case -- despite the lack of evidence showing that ties to industry are especially corrupting.

"Conflicts of interest activists assert that ties between researchers and industry are harming patients and consumers," writes science journalist Ronald Bailey in ACSH's report Scrutinizing Industry-Funded Science: The Crusade Against Conflicts of Interest. "In addition, the anti-industry activist groups are trying to exclude academic researchers who have any ties whatsoever to industry from government scientific advisory boards." That side of the story is by now a familiar one. "However," concludes the ACSH report, "even the activists' own flawed studies can't demonstrate that industry 'influence' is distorting the decisions made by those boards."

Furthermore, the activists' crusade has costs: "The campaign to purge any experts with industry ties -- no matter how slender -- from advisory panels is chilling scientific debate and depriving regulators and the public of valuable insights,"

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