ACS wants PubChem limited to cover only compounds derived from NIH research. The industry group objects to the government becoming a publisher of scientific data. However, the group ignores the fact that the federal government has long been a major publisher of data and that it has a duty to collect and disseminate data that will help protect health and safety.

Their complaint that the government should not compete with the private sector has been advanced before. Industry advocates have contented that public-private competition should be the paramount issue. Fortunately, public health and welfare have continued to be the deciding factor. Often, public health is better served by freely available and objective scientific data. This has been NIH's position as it has rejected repeated complaints from ACS on the PubChem database.

Unfortunately, some in Congress appear to be listening to the industry advocates this time. After receiving input from ACS the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies added language on PubChem to a report accompanying the Labor, Health & Human Services (HHS) & Education appropriations bill.

The subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Ralph Regula (R-OH), added the language requesting NIH reevaluate the database. Specifically, "The committee is concerned that NIH is replicating scientific information services that already exist in the private sector. In order to properly focus PubChem, the committee urges NIH to work with private-sector providers to avoid unnecessary duplication and competition with private-sector chemical databases."

It remains to be seen what impact this new language from Congress will have on the PubChem database. Since it does not require the database to be scaled back, it places the issue back in the hands of NIH.