Science Forums 2

[McGyver]

I believe this more recent NIH effort is part of Congress's 1994 (year?) FOI act to make feveral agency documents available for public viewing, At that time in 94-95, FOI was via microfiche. As we've moved into our current IT age, federal agencies have been spending milions of dollars to scan old documents into various PC file formats for the public. Clearly, with health data, there exists a real priority in the public's need to know, not just for public oversight and FOI, but to be informed on public health issues that can affect us all. The NIH has its IT work cut out, but it's no different than for the many other federal agencies. I have advocated for years that the FDA establish databases for experient public reporting on drugs and medical products. This would aid both mfr's and FDA. We've already seen mfr's own efforts via web sites to inform the public and market products. Mrf's could get creative in what content and information they offer and coordinate, though it is regulated by FDA.