Communication of epidemiology study results by industry: the Dow Chemical Company approach

Communicating epidemiology study results to subjects, affected workers, and community members is an important part of compliance and alignment with our company's policies, industry's Responsible Care Principles, and the doctrines of Good Epidemiology Practices. It is the responsibility of the investigators to interpret their research appropriately for each audience, and to assure that all who have a need or right to know get information in a form meaningful to them. We discuss study communication with examples from a recent evaluation of communication efforts within Dow and our experience with occupational and community studies on dioxin. We also discuss how we currently structure worker and community communication based on this experience. Since each Dow protocol must include a communication plan, when we agree to undertake a study, we are also agreeing to communicate study results. Depending upon the nature and type of the study, there may also be some prestudy communication. We encourage all investigators to share the results of their studies more broadly than just scientific publication and plan for the study communication before the study is initiated.