NSC Alliance, 13 Other Science Organizations Ask Senate to Support Public Access to Independent Scientific Research Assessments of the Gulf of Mexico

On September 15, 2010, the Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSC Alliance) joined 13 other scientific organizations to express concern “with the issue of intellectual property rights and ownership of research results that arise in the aftermath of incidents caused by industry, most recently, the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.” In a letter delivered to every United States Senator, the groups stated that the “public needs access to results and conclusions not affected by legal wrangling or private ownership. We are writing specifically to request that a source of independent funding for research on actual or potential industry impacts be available and dispersed from an independent source.”

The complete letter is available at http://www.aibs.org/position-statements/20100915_september_2010.html.