For over one year, the ABRF has actively and sometimes passionately discussed whether Associates who are employed by vendors corporations that sell instrumentation or reagents to resource laboratories should be permitted to serve on Research Committees. As a result of these discussions, the Executive Board has taken several actions.
A Conflict of Interest policy was described to the membership in March and implemented in June 1996 (see ABRF News 7(2), p. 2). According to this policy, all individuals who serve the Association in any capacity must disclose potential conflicts of interest to the President. They must also refrain from using the intellectual property of the Association in an inappropriate manner.
This summer member laboratories voted to amend the ABRF Bylaws. Amendments that would resolve this issue were included on the ballot, one proposal explicitly allowing and the other explicitly forbidding Committee service by vendor employees (see ABRF News 7(3), p. 2). Neither proposal received the number of votes needed for incorporation into the Bylaws, leaving this matter to the discretion of the Executive Board.
Because the issue of vendor employee participation on Research Committees was not resolved by balloting the membership, the Executive Board has decided to allow Vendor Employees to serve on Committees subject to the following guidelines.
1. Employees of vendors may be members of Committees but may not serve as members of the Executive Board or as Committee Chairs.
2. Committee members who are vendor employees are expected to uphold high standards of scientific excellence, integrity, and impartiality. Like all Committee members, they must sign and follow the requirements of the Conflict of Interest policy.
3. As is the case for all Committee members, new members will be nominated by Committees on the basis of their scientific expertise, personal integrity, and commitment to the goals of the ABRF. Nominees will be approved by the Executive Board on a case-by-case basis. Barring extenuating circumstances, approved nominees may serve on Committees for the normal term, in most cases, three years.
4. Each Committee can have no more than one member who is a vendor employee. When that member leaves the Committee, that member cannot be replaced by an employee of the same vendor.
5. Committee members who do not perform in a manner consistent with the standards of the Committee and the ABRF may be removed from the Committee by a majority vote either of the remainder of the Committee or of the Executive Board. This applies to all Committee members, whether they are employees of vendors or not.
Return to the The ABRF Home Page