posted on May, 12 2005 @ 11:04 PM
The top medical officer of Taser International was removed as an advisor to a University of Wisconsin-Madison study of the safety of stun guns. The
head of the UW-Madison study, John Webster, removed Robert Stratbucker from the advisory panel for his study, after it was revealed that he also
served as Taser International's top medical officer.
www.usatoday.com
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin researcher has removed Taser International's medical director as an adviser to a study of the safety of stun guns
after critics said his involvement with the manufacturer tainted the research.
University of Wisconsin-Madison professor John Webster had described his two-year, $500,000 study funded by the U.S. Department of Justice as the
first to look at the safety of stun guns independent of Taser, the Arizona-based company that makes the weapons.
But documents uncovered this week show Robert Stratbucker, an Omaha physician who is Taser's top medical officer, is one of four consultants to the
study, which will look at how pigs' hearts react to electric shocks from the devices
Please visit the link provided for the complete story.
There are two schools of thought on this:
Who better to help advise on a study on the safety of stun guns than the chief medical officer of the manufacturer? Clearly, he is an expert on the
matter, and it would be slightly odd to categorically exclude him from the work.
On the other hand, if the study were to find no safety problems, critics of the program would surely point to his presence and claim that the fix was
in.
I think UW-M did the right thing.