[e-drug] HHS monitors scientists' meetings with international groups

["Spring Gombe" <spring@haiweb.org>]

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E-drug: HHS monitors scientists' meetings with international groups
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http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=29127&printerfriendlyVer
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[HHS stands for Health and Human Services, a US government body. Pls
repair URL]
DAILY BRIEFING August 2, 2004

HHS monitors scientists' meetings with international groups
By Denise Kersten
dkersten@govexec.com

It takes about seven minutes to travel by subway from the National
Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., to the World Bank in downtown
Washington. Riders don't even have to change trains.

But for NIH scientists, the journey must begin at least 30 days in
advance. A new policy requires them to submit official Notifications of
Foreign Travel before meeting with "multilateral" organizations,
including the World Bank, the Pan American Health Organization, UNICEF,
the United Nations Development Programme and other U.N. organizations,
even if the meetings will take place within the United States.

Senior staff at NIH were notified of the policy in a June 26 memo from
Sharon Hrynkow, acting director of the Fogarty International Center for
Advanced Study in the Health Sciences at NIH, which sends the travel
notifications to the HHS Office of Global Health Affairs for approval.
"NIH has been instructed by the Office of the Secretary, Office of
Global Health Affairs, that travel of NIH staff to U.N. international
organizations located in the United States is to be considered foreign
travel, thus requiring ICs [institutes and centers] to submit
[Notifications of Foreign Travel] per the usual process," Hrynkow wrote.
Notifications are supposed to be submitted at least 30 days prior to
travel.

The NIH procedure is part of a larger Health and Human Services
Department move. "We were instructed by the Office of Global Health
Affairs that NIH, as well as our sister agencies, were being asked to do
this," Hrynkow said in an interview.

In an April 15 memo to Health and Human Services operating division and
staff division heads obtained by Government Executive, Office of Global
Health Affairs Director William R. Steiger wrote that all HHS experts
must obtain "written determination that there is sufficient legal
authority and agency interest" in order to meet with "multilateral
organizations, including the World Health Organization, its regional
offices and other United Nations agencies."

"The WHO often believes our experts serve in their personal capacity,"
the memo stated. "In fact, with very rare exception, both U.S. Public
Health Service Commissioned Corps regulations and U.S. Civil Service
regulations require HHS experts to serve as representatives of the U.S.
government at all times and advocate U.S. government policies."

On April 15, Steiger also wrote a letter to the WHO informing the
organization that it must submit all requests for experts to Steiger's
office and that it should make its requests based on areas of expertise,
rather than by naming individual scientists. "The current practice in
which the WHO invites specific HHS officials by name to serve [as
technical consultants or temporary advisers] has not always resulted in
the most appropriate selections," Steiger wrote.

The WHO letter became the subject of several news articles after Rep.
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., wrote a letter to HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson
asking him to rescind the policy. "The trend of increasing political
control over scientific exchange is fundamentally misguided," Waxman
wrote.

Gerald Keusch, who resigned as director of the Fogarty International
Center in December, questioned Steiger's qualifications to determine
which scientists should attend meetings. Steiger holds a doctorate in
Latin American history. "Political appointees who are not scientists
should not be judging what science needs to be done or who advises the
science agencies," Keusch said. "The department seems to be either
confusing policy and science or deliberately making science conform to
policy."

But Bill Pierce, an HHS spokesman, said the policy is not an attempt to
exert control over scientists. "It's more of an FYI system," Pierce
said. "We've asked that they tell us if they're going or if they've had
the meeting. There's no verification." Pierce said travel notifications
for meetings with U.N. organizations in the United States can even be
submitted after the meeting has taken place, even though Steiger's memo
stated that "an official in the department must authorize" participation
in such meetings.

This document is located at
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0804/080204dk1.htm

Spring Gombe
Global Access Liaison (for HAI, MSF and Oxfam)
HAI Eirope
J. v. Lennepkade 334 - T
1053 NJ Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Tel: + 31 - 20 - 683 3684
Fax: + 31 - 20 - 685 5002
www.haiweb.org
spring@haiweb.org

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