To the Editor:

We wish to comment about Kamel El-Darwish's attack on the editorial mission of The Scientist. We disagree with the complainant on several grounds. One is that The Scientist is an international news magazine aiming to present the human face behind science. Arguably, this usually entails profiling the positive accomplishments of prominent scientists, but unsavory activities should also be considered fair game.

Second, the use of catchy adjectives, such as "tabloid-style" and "sensationalist" seem misplaced to us because the article's tone isn't that of tabloid publication; the report, in fact, balances the communication of the arrest with a discussion of W. French Anderson's accomplishments and recent research interests. And while the author of the letter boasts an appreciation of the judicial system, there is the failure to acknowledge the freedom of speech guaranteed under the first amendment to the US Constitution. The simple reporting of the arrest doesn't necessarily deprive the defendant of his civil liberties because the article is merely reporting information readily available to the general public, and no assertions by The Scientist about W. French Anderson's guilt or innocence are presumed or implied.

Lastly, the appropriateness of information to be published in a journal or magazine is ultimately at the discretion of the editor, and he/she should make no apology for printing provocative articles that challenge traditional thinking about the relevance of any topic relating to the sciences.

James Bradley Summers, MD

Department of Radiology

University of South Alabama

Mobile, Alabama

Joseph Kaminski, MD

Department of Radiology

Medical College of Georgia

Augusta, Georgia

To the Editor:

I read your article on material transfer agreements (MTAs) with some interest. It comes at a time when the issue of MTAs has become a hotly discussed one in some communities and one in which the ownership of strains (e.g., the transfer of title by a depositor to a collection) is not always clear.

This is particularly true when MTAs are used to govern the free exchange of taxonomic type material.  In the case of type material (the reference standards that are used in establishing identity), depositors are obliged by international agreement to make this material freely available to other workers in the field. Similar standards exist for viable samples of microorganisms that are deposited in conjunction with patent deposits, which must be made available irrevocably to fulfill the requirement of enablement under US and international patent law.

The American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) MTA has proven to be a subject of great concern to the community of systematic biologists working with prokaryotes (Bacteria and Archaea), as it presents a major obstacle to collaborative research projects that are customary in the field. It is a matter of great concern to the International Commission on the Systematics of Prokaryotes (a standing commission of the International Union of Microbiological Societies) and an issue that is being studied by the Judicial Commission.

One of the issues that is unclear is whether or not a collection (e.g., the ATCC) can legally assert ownership to materials that were deposited in a collection prior to the establishment of a restrictive MTA policy. Moreover, given that many of the organisms in culture collections are the product of government-sponsored research, it may be difficult to actually ascertain ownership rights and whether or not the depositor actually has the legal authority to enter into an agreement in which ownership rights are transferred.

I hope not only that you have an opportunity to follow-up with this story, but that the issue of strain ownership can be clearly established, otherwise the next logical step will be for the ATCC and others to assert ownership rights over strains derived from the material that they sell to the research community.

George M. Garrity, ScD

Professor and Editor-in-Chief

Bergey's Manual Trust

Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics

Michigan State University