[The Kern paradigm: professional independence and information demands of the scientific community]

Legislative decrees 277/91 and 626/94 defined in detail role and duties of the occupational physician. There is no normative regulation about ethical principles for occupational professionals although some international organizations, such as the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH), are making proposals in this field. In the last decades, these principles have been assuming an increasing importance because of occupational medicine operators' major responsibility and the need of a multidisciplinary approach in work related risk prevention. The aim of this contribution is to present a case about professional independence and commercial secret that involved an occupational physician (David G. Kern), Brown University (that employees him) Memorial Hospital and a textile firm that consulted dr. Kern to investigate a pulmonary disease that affected some employees. The fact has been described by e-mail of OEM (Occupational Environmental Medicine) list. This event underlines the distance between the professional reality and ethical principles formulated in the ICOH code; these principles must be the base for a correct professional activity aiming only at promoting workers' health.