Science Insider
By Jocelyn Kaiser
January 20, 2010

As part of his ongoing investigation of conflicts of interest in biomedicine, Senator Charles Grassley (R–IA) now wants to comb through the e-mails of Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Grassley points out in a letter today to NIH Director Francis Collins that his 2-year probe has found five psychiatrists who failed to report drug company income or had other conflict issues—all of them researchers with funding from NIMH. “I wonder if there is something in particular about this institute that leads to so many funding problems,” the letter says. It asks for Insel’s e-mails and his calendar since 2 May; his phone records for 2009 and 2010; and NIMH staff members’ e-mails and communications regarding Senate investigations or conflicts of interest back to June 2008. Grassley wants all of this by 3 February.

Read entire article:  http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/01/grassley-goes-f.html