More On: Sponsored Research - The Conundrum

"Sponsored research" continues to be controversial. The topic will be squarely addressed next spring in a Friday March 20, 2009 session of the Defense Research Institute's annual seminar on toxic tort litigation. The full DRI seminar agenda is here, and the session is as described as follows:


Meddling with Science—Is Scientific Research
Manipulated for Purposes of Litigation or Regulation?


Plaintiffs’ lawyers claim that corporations protect their profits
by suppressing or influencing scientific and medical research and
information. Defense lawyers fight what they call “junk science”
offered by plaintiffs’ experts and environmental activists. Do
scientists who participate as experts in litigation tamper with
or improperly influence scientific investigation to bolster the
prosecution or defense of claims in litigation? Do corporations
underwrite research simply to cast doubt on the claims of
environmental advocates and the plaintiffs’ bar, or are they
interested in legitimate research that may rebut unwarranted
claims? Two scientists at the center of this contentious dialogue
will engage in a lively debate.

Speakers are:

David Michaels, Ph.D., MPH, George Washington University
School of Public Health and Health Services, Washington, D.C.

Dennis J. Paustenbach, Ph.D., CIH, DABT, ChemRisk Inc.,
San Francisco, California

Future Seminar Session on Science Driving Changes in Tort Law

A continuing topic of this blog is exploration of the ways that advances in science will change tort litigation tactics and may change tort law rules. The topic will be squarely addressed next spring in a Friday March 20, 2009 session of the Defense Research Institute's annual seminar on toxic tort litigation. The speaker is the well-known and always interesting Dennis Paustenbach. The full DRI seminar agenda is here, and the session is as described as follows:

Toxicogenetics and Toxicogenomics—Science
Fiction or the Future of Toxic Torts?

The genetic revolution is here and has the potential to transform
toxic tort law as we know it. From biomarkers
to DNA microarrays to individualized genetic testing, there
are technical and scientific advances being made that have
the potential to alter the way in which toxic tort causation
is established. Dr. Paustenbach will dispel the myths and
explain the realities about genomics and toxic torts.


Dennis J. Paustenbach, Ph.D., CIH, DABT, ChemRisk Inc.,
San Francisco, California