Professionals for the Public Interest

Setting the tone for an ethical culture

tcb345admin_pftpi — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:41:11 +0000

The number of whistleblowers within federal agencies has spiked radically, but leaders need to continue nurturing a culture that promotes ethical behavior, said panelists at a recent discussion.

“We are seeing a huge increase now in people who blow the whistle,” said Jason Zuckerman, senior legal adviser to the special counsel at the Office of Special Counsel. “We are getting about 2,800 in prohibited personnel practice complaints annually; two years ago, it was about 2,200. In 2002, it was about 1,600.” Read more…

By Camille Tuutti, Federal Computer Week

Whistle-Blower Claiming Visa Fraud Keeps His Job, but Not His Work

tcb345admin_pftpi — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:13:00 +0000

It has been 17 months since Jack B. Palmer first made a quiet complaint through internal channels at Infosys, the giant Indian outsourcing company he works for, saying he suspected some managers were committing visa fraud. Since then, Mr. Palmer says, he has been harassed by superiors and co-workers, sidelined with no work assignment, shut out of the company’s computers, denied bonuses and hounded by death threats. Read more…

By Julia Preston, The New York Times

In Remembrance: Roger Mark Boisjoly (25 April 1938 – 6 January 2012)

tcb345admin_pftpi — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 19:32:19 +0000

Roger Boisjoly was an engineer at Morton Thiokol, manufacturer of solid rocket boosters used by the NASA space shuttle program. He entered the public consciousness in 1986, with his unsuccessful effort to stop the launch of the space shuttle Challenger, whose subsequent explosion killed seven astronauts including high school teacher Christa McAuliffe , shocking the nation. Read more…

For Public Health Service officers, no protection for whistleblowing

tcb345admin_pftpi — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 17:31:12 +0000

The U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps has a long and proud tradition.

The agency’s Web site rightly promotes its staff as “an elite team of more than 6,500 full-time, well-trained, highly qualified public health professionals” who are “driven by a passion for public service . . . on the frontlines in the Nation’s fight against disease and poor health conditions.” Read more…

Grassley opens investigation into FDA surveillance

tcb345admin_pftpi — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:58:09 +0000

A senior Senate Republican has launched an investigation into the Food and Drug Administration’s secret e-mail monitoring of scientists who warned that unsafe medical devices were approved over their objections, saying whistleblowers often are treated “like skunks at a picnic.” Read more…

By Lisa Rein and Ellen Nakashima

Washington Post

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