The thought of commercialization in the school environment leaves one to speculate that all sources of human development are easily bought. Large commercial business' are able to sew a price tag to the lapel's of grand universities, making them do their biding, in exchange for private funding. Harvard university, one of the most well known schools of the United States, has put into consideration an easing up on their conflict-of-interest policy, giving them more leeway to profit from their work

Unlike other schools, such as Stanford and Johns Hopkins, Harvard allows no exceptions to its rules, for they feel that researchers devoting more than 20% of their time to work outside of Harvard, or one who holds more than $20,000 worth of company stock for research, is highly prohibited. (Bio News, 1).

This debate on the conflict-of-interest policy is being reviewed by a committee of senior professors, seeking to boost researchers economic opportunities while ensuring they adhere to the medical school's ethical standards.

Harvard is now straddling competing interests in hopes that they will be able to revise the guidelines of their conflict-of-interest policy, keeping the policies with in reasonable bounds to better serve both the human good as well as the good of the school.

"The conundrum now is one of trying to strike a balance between the obvious benefits to society that come from the increased infusion of funds from the corporate arena..." says Ruth Faden, director of the Bioethics Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. (Bio News, 2)

Administrators say they do not wish to let the conflict-of-interest policy take too long for consideration, for they realize that this is a time when medical schools throughout the country confront ongoing ethical dilemmas as government research grants dry up and professors rely more heavily on corporate money. (Bio News, 2)

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Approximate Word count = 744
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)