Disclosure of Research

* I am deeply concerned about the rider by Sen. Richard C. Shelby requiring the disclosure of all data by scientists (“Finding Research Balance,” editorial, Feb. 27). Although there has been some controversy regarding biotech companies that keep their research results secret in the face of spreading disease, this law will not have any effect on these cases, since it only targets federally funded and not private research.

This law was created to give large corporations unrestricted access to laboratory records for their own purposes, which sometimes may run contrary to the common good. The general public does not have the means to understand raw scientific data.

Government-funded scientists publish their research results in scientific journals that are available to the public at university libraries and, increasingly, over the Internet. Grant money is given largely as a function of the publication record of the investigators applying for it, creating a huge incentive for them to publish every scrap of data they produce.

This law will compromise the privacy of research subject volunteers, since their medical records and details of their intimate lives may be exposed. It should be emphasized that, for many of these people, participating in a research program was their only hope to fight a deadly disease, for example, AIDS.

JUAN CARLOS MARVIZON

Assistant Researcher

Dept. of Medicine, UCLA

Mary Daly