May 17, 2001

The Honorable Fred Thompson
521 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator Thompson:

It is a cardinal rule of scientific research to avoid at all costs any conflict of interest that could influence the objectivity of one's findings. This rule takes on added significance in the context of biomedical and public health research, for peoples' lives are at stake.

For more than a decade, John Graham, Director of the Center for Risk Analysis at the Harvard School of Public Health and candidate for the position of Director, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget, has repeatedly violated this rule. Time and again, Professor Graham has accepted money from industries while conducting research and policy studies on public health regulations in which those same industries had substantial vested interests. Not surprisingly, he has consistently produced reports, submitted testimony to the Congress, and made statements to the media that have supported industry positions, frequently without disclosing the sources of his funding.

For example:

• He has solicited money from Philip Morris while criticizing the EPA's risk assessment on the dangers of second hand smoke,

• He has greatly over-estimated the costs of preventing leukemia caused by exposure to benzene in gasoline while accepting funds from the American Petroleum Institute,

• He has downplayed EPA's warnings about cancer risk from dioxin exposure while being supported by several major dioxin producers, including incinerator, pulp, and paper companies,

• He has advocated against regulating driving while simultaneously talking on cellular phones in research underwritten by a $300,000. grant from AT&T Wireless Communication,

• And he has been a major spokesperson before the Congress on behalf of industries' "regulatory reform" agenda, while being supported by large grants of unrestricted funds from chemical, petroleum, timber, tobacco, automobile, electric power, mining, pharmaceutical, and manufacturing industries.

We, the undersigned, faculty members at schools of medicine and public health across the United States, go to great pains to avoid criticizing a colleague in public. Indeed, in most circumstances we would rejoice over the nomination of a fellow public health professional for a senior position in a presidential administration. Yet, in examining the record of John Graham, we are forced to conclude that there is such a persistent pattern of conflict of interest, of obscuring and minimizing dangers to human health with questionable cost-benefit analyses, and of hostility to governmental regulation in general that he should not be confirmed for the job of Director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. This position, critical to the setting of health, safety, and environmental regulatory policies that affect the lives of all Americans, demands an individual whose objectivity is beyond question.

Signed *

Eric Chivian M.D. Director, Center for Health and the Global Environment Harvard Medical School Shared 1985 Nobel Peace Prize Philip J. Landrigan M.D., MSc Professor and Chairman Department of Community and Preventive Medicine Director, Center for Children's Health and the Environment Mount Sinai School of Medicine Lynn R. Goldman M.D., MPH Professor of Environmental Health Sciences Johns Hopkins University Former Assistant Administrator Environmental Protection Agency Herbert L. Needleman M.D. Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Linda Rosenstock M.D., MPH Dean, School of Public Health UCLA Former Director, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health Robert S. Lawrence, MD Edyth H. Schoenrich Professor of Preventive Medicine, Professor of Health Policy, and Professor of Environmental Health Science Associate Dean for Professional Education and Programs Director, Center for a Livable Future Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University David Ozonoff M.D., MPH Professor and Chair Department of Environmental Health Boston University School of Public Health Howard Frumkin M.D., Dr.P.H. Professor and Chair Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Rollins School of Public Health Emory University Anthony Robbins M.D. Professor and Chair Department of Family Medicine and Community Health Tufts University School of Medicine Former Director, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health Philip R. Lee M.D. Senior Scholar, Institute for Health Policy Studies Professor of Social Medicine, Emeritus Former Chancellor University of California at San Francisco Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Health Barry S. Levy, M.D., M.P.H. Adjunct Professor of Community Health Tufts University School of Medicine, Past President, American Public Health Association Mark R. Cullen M.D. Professor of Medicine and Public Health Yale University School of Medicine Duncan C. Thomas Ph.D. Professor and Director, Biostatistics Division Department of Preventive Medicine University of Southern California David C. Christiani M.D. MPH Professor of Occupational Medicine and Epidemiology Harvard School of Public Health Professor of Medicine Harvard Medical School * titles and affiliations are for identification purposes only

James M. Robins M.D. Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics Harvard School of Public Health Richard Levins PhD, MPH John Rock Professor of Population Sciences Harvard School of Public Health Daniel A. Goodenough Ph.D. Takeda Professor of Cell Biology Harvard Medical School Alexander Leaf M.D. Jackson Professor of Clinical Medicine, Emeritus Harvard Medical School David H. Bor M.D. Associate Professor of Medicine Harvard Medical School Chief of Medicine, Cambridge Hospital David U. Himmelstein, M.D. Associate Professor of Medicine Harvard Medical School Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., MPH Associate Professor of Medicine Harvard Medical School Paul R. Epstein M.D., MPH Associate Director, Center for Health and the Global Environment Harvard Medical School Michael McCally M.D., Ph.D. Professor of Community and Preventive Medicine Mount Sinai School of Medicine Peter Orris, M.D., MPH Professor of Internal and Preventive Medicine Rush Medical College Director of the Occupational Health Services Institute University of Illinois School of Public Health John M. Peters, M.D. Hastings Professor of Preventive Medicine Division of Occupational and Environmental Health University of Southern California School of Medicine John Wargo Ph.D. Professor of Environmental Studies Yale University Richard W. Clapp, MPH, D.Sc. Associate Professor of Public Health Boston University School of Public Health Mervyn Susser M.D., MPH Sergievsky Professor of Epidemiology Emeritus Mailman School of Public Health Columbia University Rob McConnell, M.D. Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine University of Southern California Medical School Al Franzblau, M.D. Associate Professor of Occupational and Environmental Medicine Director, Occupational and Environmental Medicine Program University of Michigan School of Public Health Robin M. Whyatt, Dr.P.H. Assistant Professor of Clinical Public Health Mailman School of Public Health Columbia University Joyce C. Lashof M.D. Professor of Public Health, Emeritus University of California at Berkeley School of Public Health

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