Political Expediency v Science

John sends this:

A bill introduced by Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D, NY) that attempts to end financial conflicts of interest among FDA advisory committee members passed by a vote of 218 to 210. The bill prevents the FDA from empaneling scientists with financial ties to companies whose products they are evaluating by eliminating FDA fees to such scientists.

He says that only 32 Republicans voted for the Hinchey amendment, but they included 2 medical doctors (Ron Paul and Dave Weldon) plus the 2 members with the greatest expertise on vaccine injuries (Dan Burton and Chris Shays).

The article tries to defend FDA decisions being made by scientists with obvious financial conflicts of interest. I think that scientists on an independent advisory committee be independent. We've had several bad vaccine approvals in recent years because of a lack of critical thinking on the committees.