Professionals for the Public Interest

FDA staffers sue agency over surveillance of personal e-mail

tcb345admin_pftpi — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:21:46 +0000

The Food and Drug Administration secretly monitored the personal e-mail of a group of its own scientists and doctors after they warned Congress that the agency was approving medical devices that they believed posed unacceptable risks to patients, government documents show.

The surveillance — detailed in e-mails and memos unearthed by six of the scientists and doctors, who filed a lawsuit against the FDA in U.S. District Court in Washington last week — took place over two years as the plaintiffs accessed their personal Gmail accounts from government computers. Read more…

By Ellen Nakashima and Lisa Rein

The Washington Post

U.S. to Force Drug Firms to Report Money Paid to Doctors

tcb345admin_pftpi — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:48:08 +0000

WASHINGTON — To head off medical conflicts of interest, the Obama administration is poised to require drug companies to disclose the payments they make to doctors for research, consulting, speaking, travel and entertainment.

Many researchers have found evidence that such payments can influence doctors’ treatment decisions and contribute to higher costs by encouraging the use of more expensive drugs and medical devices. Read more…

By: Robert Pear

The New York Times

Ethics Code Requires Economics Authors Disclose Financial Ties

tcb345admin_pftpi — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:16:37 +0000

Academic articles written by economists might now come with a bit of microeconomic data: the author’s financial ties to firms or advocacy groups.

The American Economic Association, the world’s largest organization for economists, said authors submitting papers to its publications must disclose any potential conflicts of interest. The Nashville, Tennessee-based organization also urged its 18,000 members, about half of whom work in academia, and other economists to apply the standard to all media. Read more…

By Timothy R. Homan

Businessweek

Whistleblower Bill Draws Lobbying

tcb345admin_pftpi — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:00:41 +0000

A bill that critics warn weakens whistleblower protections quietly moved through a House subcommittee last month and now has supporters like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce pushing the full committee to quickly pass it.

The Whistleblower Improvement Act of 2011, introduced by Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.), would require whistleblowers, with some exceptions, to report criminal activity internally in addition to filing a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Read more…

By Andrew Joseph

National Journal

Economists Set Rules on Ethics

tcb345admin_pftpi — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:34:05 +0000

CHICAGO—A leading group of academic economists has adopted conflict-of-interest rules in response to criticism that the profession not only failed to predict the 2007-2008 financial crisis but may actually have helped create it.

The new policy stops well short of the broader ethical guidelines demanded by some in the field. Read more…

By Ben Casselman
The Wall Street Journal

Special counsel Carolyn Lerner quickly raises the profile of her office

tcb345admin_pftpi — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:00:47 +0000

Carolyn Lerner had the Air Force’s top four-star general boxed in.

Gen. Norton Schwartz was reeling from revelations that the Dover Air Force Base mortuary had lost and sawed off body parts and mishandled other remains of America’s war dead. In the glare of television cameras, the Air Force chief of staff was forced to issue mea culpas for the scandal in November. Read more…

By Lisa Rein
Washington Post

After complaint, he landed in basement

tcb345admin_pftpi — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:55:05 +0000

Walt Tamosaitis thought he was doing the right thing when he blew the whistle on problems with an Energy Department project. He was banished to the basement for his trouble. Read more…

Whistleblower’s top-secret clearance is reinstated

tcb345admin_pftpi — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 19:58:52 +0000

A Marine Corps whistleblower who exposed the service’s failure to quickly deliver life-saving armored vehicles and other gear to troops in Iraq can return to work after military authorities reinstated his top-secret security clearance, his attorneys said Wednesday. Read more…

DOL Revises SOX Whistleblower Rules To Reflect Changes Made by Dodd-Frank

tcb345admin_pftpi — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 19:24:15 +0000

The Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued an interim final rule revising its existing regulations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act’s whistleblower provisions to reflect the changes made by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which was enacted in July 2010. Read more…

Federal Diary: Whistleblowers get a defender

tcb345admin_pftpi — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 18:17:19 +0000

There’s been something special lately about the Office of Special Counsel.

It’s doing its job.

OSC is an independent federal agency with a long and well-deserved reputation for failing to protect federal whistleblowers, although part of its mission is “to safeguard the merit system by protecting federal employees and applicants from prohibited personnel practices.” Read more…