1115.org

Corruption has become somewhat of a buzzword in the political discourse of late, what with überlobbyist Jack Abramoff’s recent legal troubles, which has every possibility of snaring any number of political leaders in ethical traps. But when it comes to corruption in the government, our lawmakers aren’t the only ones we should be paying attention to.

Our government doesn’t just run on what the Congress or the President does; there are also numerous regulatory agencies at work to make sure that proper guidelines are being written and enforced on everything from food safety to the stock market to what words can and can’t be said on television. One of the most prominent of these agencies is the FDA, which regulates pharmaceutical drugs, among other things.

You might remember a couple years ago when the FDA was mired deep in scandal over the drug Vioxx, which triggered serious accusations that the agency was more interested in rushing drugs to market than making sure they were safe. Now the Center For Public Integrity reports that FDA employees have been using a loophole to accept travel from groups linked to drug companies, research universities and other related corporate entities.

More than a quarter of all of the trips reported were sponsored by five groups with ties to the pharmaceutical, biologic and medical device industries: the Drug Information Association, the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, the Parenteral Drug Association, the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering, and the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society. They were responsible for close to 1,000 excursions, spending more than $1.3 million to fly and host agency employees. Eleven drug safety board members were among the travelers sponsored by those groups. They took 55 trips costing approximately $75,000.

These groups do not describe themselves as trade associations. Instead, they promote themselves as scientific associations of individuals, apparently thereby skirting FDA travel sponsorship prohibitions.

Each of the five groups boasts board members with ties to medical and pharmaceutical-related firms, including current and former employees, contract workers and consultants. Many of the groups’ members have similar connections.

The FDA, of course, doesn’t see a conflict in this at all. And that’s the problem with (to take the Dem’s slogan) having a “culture of corruption”—what was once ethically questionable becomes the norm, even in areas of the government that don’t usually get much attention. And this is true no matter which party happens to be holding the political bullhorn at the time.