Others worry that the private arrangements can undermine the public interest.
"The fact that paid consulting is happening I find very disturbing," said Dr. Curt D. Furberg, former head of clinical trials at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. "It should not be done."
Private consulting fees tempt government scientists to pursue less-deserving research and to "put a spin on their interpretation" of study results, he said.
"Science should be for the sake of gaining knowledge and looking for the truth," Furberg said. "There should be no other factors involved that can introduce bias on decision-making."
Dr. Ruth L. Kirschstein, who as the deputy director or the acting director of the NIH since 1993 has approved many of the top officials' consulting arrangements, said she did not believe they had compromised the public interest. "I think NIH scientists, NIH directors and all the staff are highly ethical people with enormous integrity," she said. "And I think we do our business in the most remarkable way."
In response to The Times' findings, Kirschstein said, she would "think about" whether administrators should learn more about a company's ties to the NIH before approving the consulting arrangements.
"Systems can always be tightened up," Kirschstein said on Oct. 29. "And perhaps, based on this, we will do so."
On Nov. 20, NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni told agency leaders that he would form a committee to help "determine the appropriateness" of employees' consulting and other outside arrangements.
"I believe we can improve our performance by subjecting ethics deliberations to a more transparent process," Zerhouni said in a memo.
In a brief telephone interview last week, Zerhouni said he wanted the NIH "to manage not just the reality, but the perception of conflict of interest."
"If there is something that could be viewed as improper, I think we need to be able to advise our scientists not to get into these relationships," he said. "My sense is our scientists are people of goodwill."
Temptations Abound
The NIH traces its beginnings to the Laboratory of Hygiene, founded in 1887 within a Navy hospital on Staten Island in New York. It became the federal government's first research institution for confronting such epidemic diseases as cholera, diphtheria, tuberculosis and smallpox.
The laboratory's success convinced Congress of its value in seeking cures for diseases.
