Re: The Objectivity of Science


CLARIFICATION: Apparently Torrey was never arrested. Apparently he
never literally "robbed a graveyard". Here is what he apparently did
do. Irrelevant but I want to be accurate.


An investigative series of articles in Sunday's
Portland Press Herald (excerpt below) reveals that the
state's funeral inspector had harvested and shipped 99
brains--one third without informed consent--to the
Stanley Foundation. The Stanley Foundation maintains
a brain bank of about 560 brains of people diagnosed
with schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder, many of who
committed suicide.


In the UK a similar scandal has led the government to
pledge tightened legal protection: BBC reports that
the government indicated its intention to "'enshrine
the principles' of informed consent - changing the
emphasis away from simply acting if relatives object,
towards having to gain explicit consent in every
case."



Until the Gagnon family filed a lawsuit against Mathew
Cyr, the state's funeral inspector, the Stanley
Foundation, and Torrey, charging them with taking
their son's brain without their permission, the
Stanley Foundation never disclosed how it acquired its
brains. Private research foundations are accountable
to no one except themselves. AHRP believes that
invites abuse.


According to the Portland Herald, the Stanley
Foundation paid Cyr $150,000 for his services. The
arrangement was approved by the state Chief Medical
Officer who had been approached by Dr. Torrey. Of
note: The Stanley Foundation is not accredited by the
American Association of Tissue Banks, a national
organization that sets ethical standards.

Court documents reveal rather tawdry business
transactions. For example, to increase the number of
brains sent to the Foundation, Torrey offered greater
and greater financial incentives to Cyr. Torrey put a
higher price tag on the brains of people diagnosed
with schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder ($2,000)
compared to those diagnosed with depression ($1,500);
and he paid Cyr an extra $500 for obtaining a donor's
psychiatric records.


In a March 2001 letter, the Herald reports: "Torrey
also encouraged Cyr to take advantage of his state
government connections. He suggested that Cyr offer a
modest sum of money to a clerical employee in the
Medical Examiner's Office to send the request letters
on office stationery.


"It is our experience with San Diego and Seattle that
when a record request is sent out on (medical
examiner's office) stationery at the time of death,
the response is excellent and very rapid," Torrey
wrote.


No employee of the Medical Examiner's Office sent such
letters, according to Dow, spokesman for the attorney
general. Greenwald, through the spokesman, said she
is not aware that any employee in her office was asked
to do such work.


In his March 2001 letter to Cyr Torrey wrote: "Given
your energy and track record in obtaining specimens,
it seems reasonable that you could average about two
normal controls and one case per month, which if you
also obtained records, would gross $5,000-$5,500 per
month although we can cover whatever you can obtain.
Obviously some months might be better and some worse."


In the US, a 1987 Uniform Anatomical Gift Act,
prohibits the trafficking of organs for transplants,
there is no federal law prohibiting the sale of human
organs for research. Given the lucrative financial
incentives, and the absence of regulatory restraints,
a cottage industry in brain harvesting is thriving in
the US and the UK: many of the brains are acquired by
academic research institutions were acquired without
the knowledge or informed consent of surviving
relatives.


One might question the validity of the legal double
standard applied to organ harvesting for
transplantation compared to research--inasmuch as
organ transplants save lives, while one is hard
pressed to point at any clinically significant
diagnostic or therapeutic improvements as a result of
these brain studies.


.