Health Secretary Under Attack Over Centralization Plan

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news Health secretary under attack Allegations of police surveillance prompt over centralization plan calls for inquiry Erika Check,Washington Varmus, former direc- Sally Goodman,Paris Tommy Thompson, the US health secretary, tor of the NIH . INSERM, France’s main biomedical is under heavy fire this week for his far- The restructuring is research agency, has been asked to investi- reaching plan to streamline public and expected to form part of gate allegations that one of its laborato- Congressional relations at the National the budget proposal for ries came under police surveillance Institutes of Health (NIH) and other parts the 2003 fiscal year, because of its work on the role of dietary of his sprawling department. which will be sent to salt in heart disease. Thompson wants enquiries to all parts Congress by President The allegations, which have been of the Department of Health and Human Bush in early February. emphatically denied by the French author- Services (HHS) — including the Food and Tommy Thompson Strong objections are ities, appeared in the 11 January edition of Drug Administration,the Centers for Disease wants to see a more expected, and Congres- Le Point, one of France’s leading weekly Control and Prevention (CDC) and all the unified structure. sional staff are already news magazines. institutes of the NIH — to pass through new, on the attack. “We need The magazine says that in May 2000, centralized departments under his control. free and unfettered access to the various agen- the police received an order from an Health-department officials say that the cies,”says one Democrat aide in the Senate. unknown source to tap the telephone of reorganization will help them to present Earlier efforts by Thompson to direct Pierre Meneton, a researcher at INSERM’s clearer, more coherent messages on crucial press and public enquiries through his office laboratory of physiology and experimen- science and health matters. “We’ve been caused problems last autumn, when CDC tal vascular pathology in Paris. That was working since we got here to try to create a and NIH officials were told to steer questions shortly after Meneton handed a report to more unified department and a more respon- on anthrax through it. As a result, critics the French food-safety agency, AFSSA, in sive structure,” says Kevin Keane, assistant claim, the public did not receive accurate which he accused the food industry of secretary for public affairs at the HHS. and timely information during a series of “poisoning” consumers because of excess But supporters of the various agencies are anthrax attacks. salt in its products. deeply concerned that the change would But Keane claims that fears over restrict- Meneton was surprised by the allega- damage the institutes’ credibility with the ed access to scientific information are tions in Le Point.“I will be asking for a full public and Congress.“Information from the unfounded. “We’re just trying to handle investigation and if there is any truth in NIH has been highly valued for many years communications efficiently so there will be a the matter I will be lodging an official because it is viewed as a bipartisan institu- clear place to turn to for what people need, complaint,”he says. tion with no political agenda,” says Harold and a clearer answer coming back,”he says. ■ The relationship between salt intake and high blood pressure has long been the subject of fierce scientific argument. Pub- lication of the allegations coincided with an international conference in Paris on salt and health, organized by the AFSSA in Astronomer set to star in Taiwan response to Meneton’s report.An advisory David Cyranoski,Tokyo theory, which provided the first quantitative panel set up by the agency told the meeting Taiwan has enticed Frank Shu, a leading model for understanding how spiral galaxies that the salt content in processed food astronomer in the United States, to take up form. He went on to examine the interstellar should be cut by 20% over five years. the post of president at the National medium, planetary rings and, more recently, Le Point claimed that a member of the Tsinghua University in Hsinchu. star formation and meteorites. panel, Joël Ménard, a former chief health Shu, who is based at the University of “The proper role of the university officer in the French government, has California, Berkeley, is a prominent theorist president is to serve faculty and students,” also been under police surveillance. But and former president of the American Shu says, pledging to continue his research Ménard is sceptical. “I can’t believe it’s Astronomical Society. at Tsinghua,“and you can only have the true,” he says. “If there is any truth in it, Taiwanese government officials see Shu’s necessary understanding if you are down in then French democracy is dead.” ■ appointment as a the trenches yourself.”He aims to make the significant coup for university bilingual, with courses offered in its university system. Chinese and English. Shu says that his Shu’s move “will help to recruit better move is motivated by talent to Taiwan and Asia”,says Fred Lo, one basic assessment: director of the Institute of Astronomy and “I thought I could Astrophysics in Taipei. The appointment “will make a bigger also have influence beyond the university difference in Taiwan.” campus and beyond astronomy”,he adds. Working with Born in China, but raised in the United C. C. Lin at the States, Shu is following a precedent. At 58, Massachusetts Shu’s current age, his father took over the Frank Shu sees scope Institute of presidency of Tsinghua university and for growth at Technology, Shu in helped to develop the neighbouring Tsinghua in Taiwan. 1964 proposed the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park that spiral density wave gave rise to Taiwan’s electronics industry. ■