Recent revelations about the ties between prominent epidemiologists and private industry have surprised many epidemiologists, particularly those who knew and loved the late University of California Berkeley’s Pat Buffler. At the same time, the revelations about Paolo Boffetta and Carlo La Vecchia in Le Monde, while disappointing to some colleagues, appeared to come as no surprise to others. “It’s just the tip of the iceberg,” says the Imperial College’s Paolo Vineis in Le Monde.

These reports come at a time when institutions such as the International Agency for Research on Cancer which classifies the carcinogenic potential of many environmental agents are also coming under close scrutiny for some of their activities.

To cover these stories, The Epidemiology Monitor is publishing a longer combined a January/February 2014 issue with articles about the following:

1) the Center for Public Integrity’s investigative report on Pat Buffler,

2) a recap of the articles about Italian epidemiologists appearing in France’s Le Monde newspaper,

3) an exclusive interview with David Heath, the reporter who carried out the investigations on Pat Buffler,

4) a statement about the Buffler revelations by the Dean of the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health, and

5) an interview with Kathleen Ruff, a human rights activist who has worked with the Joint Policy Committee of the Societies of Epidemiology in issuing their joint statement on asbestos, and

 Key professional groups in epidemiology have yet to comment on these revelations. Readers are invited to weigh-in on one or more of these articles by completing a comment form found at the end of each article or by posting to our Facebook page. Posting to our Facebook page will be interactive for those who wish to comment and receive comments on their responses. Comments by email to epimon@aol.com are also invited and will be published next month. We are interested in your comments on:

1. What do you think happened? 

2. Why did it happen? 

3. What, if anything, should be done about it?

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