Findings from the American College of Epidemiology's survey on Ethics guidelines. The American College of Epidemiology Ethics and Standards of Practice Committee

Common topics discerned in ethics in epidemiology and public health syllabi: in-depth review

This commentary reviews ethics in epidemiology and public health (PH) syllabi collected in 2011 and 2018. The syllabi repository was an American College of Epidemiology (ACE) Ethics Committee project to support institutions and faculty introducing, furthering or improving ethics in epidemiology and public health courses. Of 83 syllabi from 52 accredited public health schools and programs, 80 were reviewed to identify the most common ethics topics. The extracted information was categorized into eight main groups: (1) ethical/moral foundations and theories; (2) case studies in epidemiology/PH; (3) ethical issues in PH practice; (4) ethical issues in general epidemiologic/PH research; (5) ethical issues in specific research areas; (6) ethical issues in information technology; (7) ethical issues in other emerging topics in epidemiology/PH; and (8) others. The frequency of topics in each category was computed, and common topics were presented. Ethical issues absent from the syllabi were inferred. This commentary is intended to promote a dialog among those desiring to elevate epidemiology and public health ethics to an educational level commensurate with its importance.

Constructing "sound science" and "good epidemiology": tobacco, lawyers, and public relations firms

The tobacco industry has attacked "junk science" to discredit the evidence that secondhand smoke-among other environmental toxins-causes disease. Philip Morris used public relations firms and lawyers to develop a "sound science" program in the United States and Europe that involved recruiting other industries and issues to obscure the tobacco industry's role. The European "sound science" plans included a version of "good epidemiological practices" that would make it impossible to conclude that secondhand smoke-and thus other environmental toxins-caused diseases. Public health professionals need to be aware that the "sound science" movement is not an indigenous effort from within the profession to improve the quality of scientific discourse, but reflects sophisticated public relations campaigns controlled by industry executives and lawyers whose aim is to manipulate the standards of scientific proof to serve the corporate interests of their clients.