Cargando…

Transparency and translation of science in a modern world

The co-Editors-in-Chief of Environmental Health respond to an unusual initiative taken by editors of 14 toxicology journals to influence pending decisions by the European Commission to establish a framework for regulating chemicals that pose a hazard to normal function of the endocrine system. This...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Grandjean, Philippe, Ozonoff, David
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3765922/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23981514
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1476-069X-12-70
_version_ 1782283422514806784
author Grandjean, Philippe
Ozonoff, David
author_facet Grandjean, Philippe
Ozonoff, David
author_sort Grandjean, Philippe
collection PubMed
description The co-Editors-in-Chief of Environmental Health respond to an unusual initiative taken by editors of 14 toxicology journals to influence pending decisions by the European Commission to establish a framework for regulating chemicals that pose a hazard to normal function of the endocrine system. This initiative is also the subject of this Commentary in this journal by authors who recently reviewed the subject and who point out inaccuracies in the toxicology editors’ critique. The dispute is about potential public policy development, rather than on science translation and research opportunities and priorities. The toxicology journal editors recommend that chemicals be examined in depth one by one, ignoring modern achievements in biomedical research that would allow new understanding of the effects of classes of toxic substances in complex biological systems. Concerns about policy positions framed as scientific ones are especially important in a time with shrinking public support for biomedical research affects priorities. In such a setting, conflict of interest declarations are important, especially in research publications that address issues of public concern and where financial and other interests may play a role. Science relies on trust, and reasonable disclosure of financial or other potential conflicts is therefore essential. This need has been emphasized by recent discoveries of hidden financial conflicts in publications in toxicology journals, thus misleading readers and the public about the safety of particular industrial products. The transparency provided by Environmental Health includes open access and open peer review, with reader access to reviews, including the identity of reviewers and their statements on possible conflicts of interest. However, the editors of the 14 toxicology journals did not provide any information on potential conflicts of interest, an oversight that needs to be corrected.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-3765922
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2013
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-37659222013-09-08 Transparency and translation of science in a modern world Grandjean, Philippe Ozonoff, David Environ Health Editorial The co-Editors-in-Chief of Environmental Health respond to an unusual initiative taken by editors of 14 toxicology journals to influence pending decisions by the European Commission to establish a framework for regulating chemicals that pose a hazard to normal function of the endocrine system. This initiative is also the subject of this Commentary in this journal by authors who recently reviewed the subject and who point out inaccuracies in the toxicology editors’ critique. The dispute is about potential public policy development, rather than on science translation and research opportunities and priorities. The toxicology journal editors recommend that chemicals be examined in depth one by one, ignoring modern achievements in biomedical research that would allow new understanding of the effects of classes of toxic substances in complex biological systems. Concerns about policy positions framed as scientific ones are especially important in a time with shrinking public support for biomedical research affects priorities. In such a setting, conflict of interest declarations are important, especially in research publications that address issues of public concern and where financial and other interests may play a role. Science relies on trust, and reasonable disclosure of financial or other potential conflicts is therefore essential. This need has been emphasized by recent discoveries of hidden financial conflicts in publications in toxicology journals, thus misleading readers and the public about the safety of particular industrial products. The transparency provided by Environmental Health includes open access and open peer review, with reader access to reviews, including the identity of reviewers and their statements on possible conflicts of interest. However, the editors of the 14 toxicology journals did not provide any information on potential conflicts of interest, an oversight that needs to be corrected. BioMed Central 2013-08-27 /pmc/articles/PMC3765922/ /pubmed/23981514 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1476-069X-12-70 Text en Copyright © 2013 Grandjean and Ozonoff; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Editorial
Grandjean, Philippe
Ozonoff, David
Transparency and translation of science in a modern world
title Transparency and translation of science in a modern world
title_full Transparency and translation of science in a modern world
title_fullStr Transparency and translation of science in a modern world
title_full_unstemmed Transparency and translation of science in a modern world
title_short Transparency and translation of science in a modern world
title_sort transparency and translation of science in a modern world
topic Editorial
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3765922/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23981514
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1476-069X-12-70
work_keys_str_mv AT grandjeanphilippe transparencyandtranslationofscienceinamodernworld
AT ozonoffdavid transparencyandtranslationofscienceinamodernworld