NIH report omits specific blame?

Researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences are saying the recent NIH report on mismanagement at the agency fails to pinpoint some root causes of the problems. The linkurl:report;http://finance.senate.gov/press/Gpress/2008/prg041508a.pdf pointed out several linkurl:problems;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54554/ at NIEHS, including a failure to consider conflicts of interest among NIEHS employees, a lack of documented justifications for out-of-rank-order extramural grant awards, and tarnished morale at the agency. Ray Tennant, an NIEHS cancer researcher, said that report should have pointed more explicitly to specific problems with ex-NIEHS director linkurl:David Schwartz's;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54298/ leadership of the agency. "How did this report deal with the manifold problems that were brought about in the Schwartz era?" asked NIEHS cancer researcher Ray Tennant. "It didn't. It glossed over them." An NIEHS researcher who chose to remain anonymous said that not only Schwartz, but also NIH director Elias Zerhouni, who originally hired Schwartz, were the main causes of NIEHS's problems. According...