NIH Director Francis CollinsNATIONAL HUMAN GENOME RESEARCH INSTITUTERepublican representative Andy Harris of Maryland raised concerns about the National Institutes of Health’s oversight of its grantees yesterday (March 5), ScienceInsider reported, after reading about an NIH-funded study connecting the rise of the Tea Party to tobacco funding.
Politicians and other officials, including NIH Director Francis Collins, had gathered at a Committee on Appropriations meeting to discuss how federal agencies were dealing with funding cuts. But as the meeting wound down, Harris addressed Collins to complain about the study, which was published last month (February 8) in Tobacco Control.
“They allege that somehow the Tea Party had its origin in the 1980s with tobacco funding, which is pretty incredible because, I mean, I’m a Tea Party guy and I was there when it was established in 2009,” Harris said (see 1:52:30 in this recording of the meeting). He later added, “What kind of methods does the NIH have when this kind of research takes dollars from cancer research?”
“I too am quite troubled ...
