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Nature Medicine 12, 719 (2006)
Published online: 28 June 2006 | doi:10.1038/nm0706-719b

NIH scandal underscores lack of sample oversight

Meredith Wadman1

  1. Washington, DC


The example of the researcher who sold tissue samples to Pfizer raises serious questions.


Pay a visit to the website of The Cancer Genome Atlas, and you'll find this reassuring statement about the samples scientists hope to obtain for the project: "Tissue samples will be carefully catalogued, processed, checked for quality and stored, complete with important medical information about the patient."The information will have limits, the website hastens to add, and "samples will be coded to remove any descriptors that might connect a sample with the patient's private information.

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