Bunsen burner bummer: Lab rules favor industry over indie research

[xchrom]

http://grist.org/food/bunsen-burner-bummer-lab-rules-favor-industry-over-indie-research/

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Last week, when I wrote about the scientist Tyrone Hayes and the controversy over the herbicide atrazine, I suggested that “the industry has defined the rules of the game so narrowly that only it can play.”

But I didn’t understand exactly how this worked. The short answer: It’s too expensive for scientists to do the experiments that regulators want.

Jason Rohr, a scientist at the University of South Florida, has bumped into this issue. One of the problems, Rohr said, is that regulators pay more attention to studies conducted with what’s known as Good Laboratory Practice.

“Good Laboratory Practice is basically a bunch of hoops to jump through: properly calibrating your pipettes, stuff like that,” Rohr said.