Senior figures at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) have proposed new, stricter rules for funded researchers on showing their ties with industry.

Francis Collins, who heads the agency, and Sally Rockey, head of its office of extramural research, wrote in a commentary in the Journal of the American Medical Association that the existing 1995 rules “need to be clarified and strengthened to ensure greater transparency and accountability” (doi:10.1001/jama.2010.774).

Members of Congress, in particular Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, have been investigating undisclosed …