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Censorship of scientists on cancer risks of radiation

Scientist: FDA suppressed imaging safety concerns, Science news,  By Matthew Perrone, 30 March, WASHINGTON — A former Food and Drug Administration scientist said Tuesday his job was eliminated after he raised concerns about the risks of radiation exposure from high-grade medical scanning.
Dr. Julian Nicholas said at a public hearing that he and other FDA staffers “were pressured to change their scientific opinion,” after they opposed the approval of a CT scanner for routine colon cancer screening. Nicholas said that he objected to exposing otherwise healthy patients to the cancer risks of radiation.

After FDA officials pushed ahead with plans to clear the device, Nicholas, now a physician at the Scripps Clinic in San Diego, said he and eight other staffers raised their concerns with the division’s top director Dr. Jeffrey Shuren last September. The device apparently is still under review.

“Scientific and regulatory review process for medical devices was being distorted by managers who were not following the laws,” Nicholas said. A month later Nicholas’ position was terminated, he said.

Nicholas does not think there was undue influence by the manufacturer in his ouster, but that his more cautious stance was in opposition to that of FDA higher-ups.

The allegations about suppression of scientific dissent come at an inopportune time for the agency……..

Hundreds of studies have linked certain types of radiation, including the type used in medical imaging, to cancer that can surface decades later.

FDA medical reviewer Dr. Robert Smith, a colleague of Nicholas who also presented at Tuesday’s public meeting, said he hoped the FDA would learn a lesson from Nicholas’ testimony.

“Science must not be ignored, suppressed or distorted as that endangers the public,” Smith told the audience.

Smith, who still works for the agency, supported Nicholas’ conclusion that CT scanning for colon cancer should be rejected on safety grounds……

The average American’s radiation exposure has nearly doubled in the last three decades, largely due to CT tests, according to the FDA.

Former FDA staffer says agency officials suppressed radiation concerns with CT scans

April 2, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | antinuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive