title: Conflicts of interest among committee members in the National Academies' genetically engineered crop study.
abstract: The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) publishes numerous reports each year that are received with high esteem by the scientific community and public policy makers. The NASEM has internal standards for selecting committee members that author its reports, mostly from academia, and vetting conflicts of interest. This study examines whether there were any financial conflicts of interest (COIs) among the twenty invited committee members who wrote the 2016 report on genetically engineered (GE) crops. Our results showed that six panel members had one or more reportable financial COIs, none of which were disclosed in the report. We also report on institutional COIs held by the NASEM related to the report. The difference between our findings and the NASEM reporting standards are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urban & Environmental Policy & Planning, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Sheldon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Krimsky
authors.affiliation: Food & Water Watch, Washington, DC, United States of America.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schwab
mesh_terms: D000047:Academies and Institutes; D000383:Agriculture / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods; D035843:Biomedical Research; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods; D032802:Committee Membership; D016265:Conflict of Interest / Q000191:economics*; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000191:economics*; D030881:Disclosure; D032984:Ethics, Research; D005818:Genetic Engineering; D006801:Humans; D009938:Organizations; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D011643:Publishing