The question is slightly inaccurate. David Koch sat on the advisory board
of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the largest (by size and
budget) permanent institute at the NIH. The NCI has the mandate for
identifying and researching human carcinogens.
In the August 30, 2010 issue of the New Yorker, the award-winning journalist Jane Mayer published an investigative piece on the Koch family where, among other things, she reported, 'Koch Industries has been lobbying to prevent the E.P.A. from classifying formaldehyde, which the company produces in great quantities, as a ‘known carcinogen’ in humans' (Covert Operations - The New Yorker).
As Jane Meyer reports further in her piece, 'Scientists have long known that formaldehyde causes cancer in rats, and several major scientific studies have concluded that formaldehyde causes cancer in human beings—including one published last year by the National Cancer Institute, on whose advisory board Koch sits. The study tracked twenty-five thousand patients for an average of forty years; subjects exposed to higher amounts of formaldehyde had significantly higher rates of leukemia. These results helped lead an expert panel within the National Institutes of Health to conclude that formaldehyde should be categorized as a known carcinogen, and be strictly controlled by the government. Corporations have resisted regulations on formaldehyde for decades, however, and Koch Industries has been a large funder of members of Congress who have stymied the E.P.A., requiring it to defer new regulations until more studies are completed'.
Also, 'James Huff, an associate director at the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, a division of the N.I.H., told me that it was “disgusting” for Koch to be serving on the National Cancer Advisory Board: “It’s just not good for public health. Vested interests should not be on the board.” He went on, “Those boards are very important. They’re very influential as to whether N.C.I. goes into formaldehyde or not. Billions of dollars are involved in formaldehyde'.
And, 'Harold Varmus, the director of the National Cancer Institute, knows David Koch from Memorial Sloan-Kettering, which he used to run. He said that, at Sloan-Kettering, “a lot of people who gave to us had large business interests. The one thing we wouldn’t tolerate in our board members is tobacco.” When told of Koch Industries’ stance on formaldehyde, Varmus said that he was “surprised'.
Predictably, this piece created a media and activist firestorm around the clear conflict of interest in Koch, whose Koch Industries is the owner of one of the largest manufacturers of formaldehyde, sitting on an advisory board of such import on public health policy. It was after this piece appeared in print that David Koch left his advisory board position at the NCI, as the New York Times reported on October 27, 2010 (Koch Leaves Federal Cancer Panel as Groups Urge Ethics Probe).
And it was after this piece appeared in print that the US government announced on June 9, 2011, that it was adding formaldehyde to a list of known human carcinogens (U.S. (finally) Labels Formaldehyde "Known Human Carcinogen").
Read Jane Meyer's New Yorker piece to understand how lobbying relevant government agencies such as the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) was the approach to prevent or delay classifying formaldehyde as a known carcinogen in humans, not relying on specific scientists to create doubt.
https://www.quora.com/In-2010-2011-David-Koch-was-asked-to-leave-the-National-Cancer-Institute-at-NIH-for-obfuscating-the-role-of-formaldehyde-in-causing-cancer-Which-scientists-did-he-rely-on-most-for-generating-doubt/answer/Tirumalai-Kamala
In the August 30, 2010 issue of the New Yorker, the award-winning journalist Jane Mayer published an investigative piece on the Koch family where, among other things, she reported, 'Koch Industries has been lobbying to prevent the E.P.A. from classifying formaldehyde, which the company produces in great quantities, as a ‘known carcinogen’ in humans' (Covert Operations - The New Yorker).
As Jane Meyer reports further in her piece, 'Scientists have long known that formaldehyde causes cancer in rats, and several major scientific studies have concluded that formaldehyde causes cancer in human beings—including one published last year by the National Cancer Institute, on whose advisory board Koch sits. The study tracked twenty-five thousand patients for an average of forty years; subjects exposed to higher amounts of formaldehyde had significantly higher rates of leukemia. These results helped lead an expert panel within the National Institutes of Health to conclude that formaldehyde should be categorized as a known carcinogen, and be strictly controlled by the government. Corporations have resisted regulations on formaldehyde for decades, however, and Koch Industries has been a large funder of members of Congress who have stymied the E.P.A., requiring it to defer new regulations until more studies are completed'.
Also, 'James Huff, an associate director at the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, a division of the N.I.H., told me that it was “disgusting” for Koch to be serving on the National Cancer Advisory Board: “It’s just not good for public health. Vested interests should not be on the board.” He went on, “Those boards are very important. They’re very influential as to whether N.C.I. goes into formaldehyde or not. Billions of dollars are involved in formaldehyde'.
And, 'Harold Varmus, the director of the National Cancer Institute, knows David Koch from Memorial Sloan-Kettering, which he used to run. He said that, at Sloan-Kettering, “a lot of people who gave to us had large business interests. The one thing we wouldn’t tolerate in our board members is tobacco.” When told of Koch Industries’ stance on formaldehyde, Varmus said that he was “surprised'.
Predictably, this piece created a media and activist firestorm around the clear conflict of interest in Koch, whose Koch Industries is the owner of one of the largest manufacturers of formaldehyde, sitting on an advisory board of such import on public health policy. It was after this piece appeared in print that David Koch left his advisory board position at the NCI, as the New York Times reported on October 27, 2010 (Koch Leaves Federal Cancer Panel as Groups Urge Ethics Probe).
And it was after this piece appeared in print that the US government announced on June 9, 2011, that it was adding formaldehyde to a list of known human carcinogens (U.S. (finally) Labels Formaldehyde "Known Human Carcinogen").
Read Jane Meyer's New Yorker piece to understand how lobbying relevant government agencies such as the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) was the approach to prevent or delay classifying formaldehyde as a known carcinogen in humans, not relying on specific scientists to create doubt.
https://www.quora.com/In-2010-2011-David-Koch-was-asked-to-leave-the-National-Cancer-Institute-at-NIH-for-obfuscating-the-role-of-formaldehyde-in-causing-cancer-Which-scientists-did-he-rely-on-most-for-generating-doubt/answer/Tirumalai-Kamala
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