Genetics links Feb. 6 week – science policies and news

The new US Congress is quite busy this week with our (hopeful) economic package and new laws that need voting. Amendments are being changed left and right, but there are several laws that scientists might take particular interest in.

Senate passed an amendment increasing National Institutes of Health funds by additional $6.5 billion, on top of the $3.5 billion already included in the bill. What this means for the NIH: more opportunities for research, funding for grants, and new jobs created for scientists and staff.

The House re-opened the debate limiting the open-access policy of the NIH. The current NIH policy requires all NIH-funded investigators to submit versions of their manuscript to public databases within a year of publication. The current debate is whether open-access negatively affects the commercial markets of peer-reviewed journals, versus open-access fast-tracking the publications of scientific discoveries.

Senators introduced amendment policing conflicts of interest for NIH scientists. An amendment to the stimulus package would force NIH scientists to declare dollar amounts of potential conflicts of interest, in an effort to keep “a tighter leash on its grantees”.

Speaking of potential conflicts, top pick for minister of Health and Human Services Tom Daschle withdrew his candidacy for potential conflicts of interest. Daschle earned millions last year when he spoke at several health care industry events.

The FDA gets involved in genomics activities. The Food and Drug Administration is creating a new position that will coordinate and upgrade the agency’s involvement in genomics.

Image: sxc