Sheldon Krimsky, a leading environmental ethics scientist who explored issues at the interface of science, ethics, and biotechnology, and warned of the dangers of private companies guaranteeing and influencing academic research, died April 23 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. . He was 80.
His family said he was in hospital for tests when he died, and they didn’t know the cause.
dr. Krimsky, who taught for 47 years at Tufts University in Massachusetts, made a comprehensive warning about the growing conflicts of interest facing universities as their academic researchers accepted millions of dollars in grants from corporate entities such as pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.
In his book “Science in the Private Interest” (2003), he argued that the lure of profit may have corrupted research, undermining the integrity and independence of universities.
But his broad public policy work went far beyond signaling the dangers inherent in the commercialization of science. The author, co-author or editor of 17 books and more than 200 journal articles, he delved into numerous scientific areas — including stem cell research, genetically modified food and DNA privacy — and sought to pinpoint potential problems.
“He was the Ralph Nader of bioethics,” said Jonathan Garlick, a stem cell researcher at Tufts and a friend of Dr. Krimsky, in a telephone interview, referring to the long-standing consumer advocate.
“He said if we didn’t slow down and pay attention to key checkpoints, once you let the genie come out of the bottle, it could cause irreversible damage that could last for generations,” added Dr. Garlick to it. “He wanted to protect us from irreversible damage.”
In “Genetic Justice” (2012), Dr. Krimsky that DNA evidence is not always reliable and that government agencies had created large DNA databases that posed a threat to civil liberties. In “The GMO Deception” (2014), which he edited with Jeremy Gruber, he criticized the agri-food industry for changing the genetic makeup of food.
His latest book, published in 2021, was “Understanding DNA Ancestry,” in which he explained the complications of ancestry research and said the results of different companies testing genetic ancestry could differ in their conclusions. He recently began exploring the emerging topic of stem cell meat — meat made from animal cells that can be grown in a lab.
In fact, Mr. Nader had a long association with Dr. Krimsky and wrote the introduction to some of his books.
“There really was no one like him: strict, courageous and productive,” Nader said in an email. “He tried to convey the importance of democratic processes in open scientific decision-making in many areas. He criticized scientific dogmas and said that science should always leave options open for revision.”
Sheldon Krimsky was born on June 26, 1941 in Brooklyn. His father, Alex, was a house painter. His mother, Rose (Skolnick) Krimsky, was a garment worker.
Sheldon, better known as Shelly, studied Physics and Mathematics at Brooklyn College, graduating in 1963. He received a Master of Science degree in Physics from Purdue University in 1965. He received a Master of Arts degree in Physics from Boston University. philosophy in 1968 and a doctorate in philosophy of science in 1970.
He is survived by his wife, Carolyn Boriss-Krimsky, a playwright, artist and author, whom he married in 1970; a daughter, Alyssa Krimsky Clossey; a son, Eliot; three grandchildren; and a brother, Sydney.
dr. Krimsky began his association with Tufts in what is now called the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning in 1974 and helped build it over the decades. He also taught ethics at Tufts University School of Medicine and was a visiting researcher at Columbia University, Brooklyn College, the New School, and New York University.
He began exploring conflicts of interest in academic research in the late 1970s when he led a team of students on an investigation into whether the chemical company WR Grace had contaminated drinking wells in Acton, Massachusetts.
dr. Krimsky has said that when the company learned it would issue a negative report — the wells were later designated a Superfund site — one of the top executives asked Tufts’ president to bury the study and fire him. The chairman refused. But dr. Krimsky was alarmed that the company had tried to get involved, and it prompted him to investigate how companies, whether they contributed financially or not, were trying to manipulate science.
“He spoke the truth against power,” said Dr. Garlick. “He wanted to give a voice to skepticism and a voice to the skeptics.”
dr. Krimsky had long been a proponent of what he called “organized skepticism.”
“When claims are made, you should start with skepticism until the evidence is so strong that your skepticism disappears,” he told The Boston Globe in 2014. “You don’t start in science by saying, ‘Yeah, I like this hypothesis and it has to be true.’”
He was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and chaired the Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility from 1988 to 1992. He was also a fellow of the Hastings Center on Bioethics and served on the editorial board of seven scientific journals.
When not working, he liked to play guitar and harmonica. He divided his time between Cambridge and New York City.
“Shelly has never given up hope for a better world,” said Julian Agyeman, a professor in Dr. Krimsky and its interim chairman, in a Tufts obituary. “He was the consummate activist-lawyer-scholar.”
