CrossFit, Inc. Exposes Conflicts of Interest at Foundations for the NIH and CDC

WASHINGTON, June 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- CrossFit, Inc. announced today that it has uncovered noncompliance with the law at the Foundation for the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC Foundation) and the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) that created conflicts of interest between industry partners and the CDC and NIH. The foundations are required by law to produce a report disclosing the sources and amounts of the donations they received, as well as restrictions on the uses of the donations. To date, each foundation has omitted such information from its published reports. CrossFit, Inc. discovered the foundations' noncompliance in March while investigating the soda industry's many attempts to infiltrate the health sciences and unduly influence the scientific record on sugar.

"CrossFit's Founder and Chairman Greg Glassman set a goal for CrossFit to drive Big Soda out of sport and health science," said Russ Greene, CrossFit's Director of Government Relations and Research. "Under his leadership, we've tracked the soda industry's donations and use of proxy groups. We looked over the CDC Foundation's and FNIH's disclosures and found they weren't even close to following the law. Annually reporting the sources, amounts and restrictions of each grant they receive—transparency—is the first step in making sure there's no undue influence on government science and policy."

The FNIH and CDC Foundation were established by Congress in 1990 and 1992 to facilitate public-private partnerships, serve as a firewall between private resources and the NIH and CDC, and protect scientific integrity. In recently released legislation, the U.S. House Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies reprimanded the CDC Foundation and the FNIH for improperly disclosing the donations each entity received and directed them to adhere to the requirements of the Public Health Service Act.

"The Committee directs the Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (''Foundation'') to abide by section 399G(h)(7) of the Public Health Service Act by including in the Foundation's annual report the source and amount of all monetary gifts to the Foundation, as well as the source and description of all gifts of real or personal property. Each annual report shall disclose a specification of any restrictions on the purposes for which gifts to the Foundation may be used. The annual report shall not list ''anonymous'' as a source for any gift that includes a specification of any restrictions on the purpose for which the gift may be used.

"The Committee directs the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (''Foundation'') to abide by section 499(j)(4) of the Public Health Service Act by including in the Foundation's annual report the source and amount of all monetary gifts to the Foundation, as well as the source and description of all gifts of real or personal property. Each annual report shall disclose a specification of any restrictions on the purposes for which gifts to the Foundation may be used. The annual report shall not list ''anonymous'' as a source for any gift that includes a specification of any restrictions on the purpose for which the gift may be used."

CrossFit, Inc.'s discovery and subsequent work to alert the Subcommittee preceded recent reports exposing conflicts of interest between scientists at the NIH and industry partners. On June 15, the Associated Press revealed that the NIH was shutting down a $100-million, industry-funded study on the effects of moderate alcohol consumption in relation to heart attacks. An internal investigation found that a number of employees had maintained inappropriate contact with industry officials.

"Big Soda, Big Pharma and the alcohol industry would love to stamp the NIH and CDC brands on industry-favorable research," Greene said. "People don't take the industry's own research very seriously, but if they slap a federal agency's name on it, it becomes more credible. The U.S. is facing an unprecedented chronic disease epidemic. Life expectancy's falling year after year. So why should U.S. taxpayers keep subsidizing corporate health propaganda? It's high time for the CDC, NIH, and their foundations to come clean on their soda, opioid, alcohol and all other industry partnerships."

SOURCE CrossFit, Inc.