Talk:Weinberg Group

A confession
I would like to be upfront and let everyone know about a potential COI. I am an employee with The Weinberg Group and having read this page, I wanted to make some edits to things that I believe to be wrong, as well as add things that I feel are missing. There are a lot of new rules to learn, but I am doing my best to respect the rules of Wiki. Below is a list of some issues I noticed:

is currently being investigated by Congress. – This is no longer current, shouldn’t it read “was being investigated by Congress”?

According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest the committee also "accused the firm of generating false uncertainty about scientific research that cast a negative light on their clients’ products. After showing deleted pages from the Weinberg Group's website boasting about its work for two pharmaceutical clients, the committee demanded the firm hand over documents naming the drug, the drug manufacturer and the experts used to prevent the drug’s ban. The group has also been accused of working to cast doubt on research linking a brand name hair dye to cancer and the impact of chlorofluorocarbons on the ozone layer." [6] The link is broken.

The Weinberg Group is a sponsor of the International Society of Regulatory Toxicology & Pharmacology,[10] an group described as "an association of dominated by scientists who work for industry trade groups and consulting firms," by David Michaels.[11]  - Link goes to a blank page

The Weinberg Group also assisted the tobacco industry's law firm, Covington & Burling, with implementing a multinational Environmental Tobacco Smoke scientific witness program (also known as the "Whitecoat Project.") The Project was an effort by the industry to clandestinely find, recruit, and train third party scientists to act as credible, disinterested third parties who would speak, write, and testify in the industry's favor on the subject of secondhand smoke without disclosing ties to the tobacco industry. – This last sentence has no reference, the document on ETS does not say the above.

The Weinberg Group at that time provided Covington & Burling (C&B) with the names of 33 potential scientists to recruit into the project. C&B "reviewed their resumes and bibliographies, and ensured that the selected scientists held no negative [to the industry] views on ETS, that their position on primary [smoking] is that it is no more than a 'risk factor,' and that they are not retained by other companies as potential court witnesses." [18]   The quote is not found in the reference –

Philip Morris budgeted $250,000 for the Weinberg Group for Feb-Dec 1998 to organize a risk management conference and help develop and publicize a body of academic literature on risk management that would be favorable to the industry.[17] Nothing in the reference says “that would be favorable to industry” A123321a (talk) 18:34, 5 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Thanks your note about problems with the article. I have fixed the "is currently being investigated by Congress" language, fixed the broken links to CSPI and ISRTP, and added a reference for the Project Whitecoat stuff. I don't have time dig through the tobacco archive now to update those links. Hopefully I can do that soon or someone else can. Yilloslime T C  19:25, 5 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Thank you. I think it would be more accurate to say "In 2007, The Weinberg Group was listed as a sponsor of the International Society of Regulatory Toxicology & Pharmacology,[10]" - that was the year the firm sponsored it. Also, as to the changes that you don't have time to address - can those edits be made after a certain length of time? The errors seem rather egregious, and I'm eager to get them changed.

I would also like to add this - Non-profit work Building STEPS is a private non-profit organization, founded in 1995 by Matthew Weinberg, CEO, that was developed to expose bright, underserved students to professions that rely on science and technology and to help them excel in these fields where minorities are overwhelmingly underrepresented. Headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland since 1999, 90% of the students graduating from this two-year, academic and professional development program matriculate to college. http://www.buildingsteps.org/pdfs/BaltimoreMagazine_9-1-2008.pdf A123321a (talk) 20:48, 17 February 2010 (UTC)

I made several edits without including an edit summary - my apologies, I didn't realize it was protocol until after the fact. I can list out the reasons I made the changes here if you would like. A123321a (talk) 15:34, 18 March 2010 (UTC)