In March, OMB Watch reported on a controversial industry-backed scientific consultant managing a National Institutes of Health (NIH) office. (The relationship has since been terminated.) Now, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) inspector general's office is investigating over 100 hundred potential conflict of interest cases at NIH. The IG's office is working with the House Energy and Commerce Committee on the issue. In the 109th Congress, that committee uncovered a number of scientists in violation of ethics rules due to their ties to the pharmaceutical industry. In a rather droll comment, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), the committee's top Republican, said, "The NIH specializes in great science, not detective work, and it shows." Read the committee press release here.