美國終止一項耗資一億美元的飲酒研究項目

The U.S. government is shutting down a planned study testing whether moderate drinking has health benefits over concerns that its funding by the alcohol industry would compromise its credibility.

The National Institutes of Health said Friday the results of the planned $100 million study could not be trusted because of the secretive way that employees negotiated with beer and liquor companies to underwrite the effort.

Government officials say it is legal to use industry money to pay for government research so long as all rules are followed. However, in this case, NIH officials say employees did not follow proper procedures, including keeping their interactions with industry officials secret.

NIH Deputy Director Lawrence Tabak said the interactions between the employees and industry representatives appeared to “intentionally bias'' the study so that it would have a better chance to conclude that moderate drinking is beneficial.

An NIH review panel was also concerned that the study's proposed span of 10 years was too short a time period to adequately test the potential problems of a daily drink – such as an increased risk of cancer or heart failure.美國政府終止了原計劃進行的一項有關適量飲酒是否有益健康的研究實驗，原因是擔心酒業提供的資金會影響研究結果的可信度。

美國國立衛生研究院星期五說，這項計劃耗資1億美元的研究所得出的結果難以讓人相信，因爲該研究院僱員以祕密的方式與啤酒和烈酒公司進行提供研究資金的洽談。

政府官員說，只要遵守所有相關規定，使用產業資金進行政府的研究項目符合法律。不過，美國國立衛生研究院的官員說，在這個項目上，該院的僱員沒有遵守相關程序，包括對他們與酒業人員的接觸祕而不宣。

美國國立衛生研究院副院長塔巴克說，該院僱員與就業代表的接觸看來是要有意影響這項研究，從而更可能得出適量飲酒對健康有益的結論。

國立衛生研究院的審查小組還擔心，研究項目計劃的10年時間段太短，無法對每日飲酒的潛在健康影響做出有效判斷，例如，是否增加患癌症或心臟病的風險。