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Leading environmental ethics scholar Sheldon Krimsky, who has explored issues between science, ethics and biotechnology, and warned of the dangers of private companies that undertake and influence academic research, died April 23 in Cambridge, Mass. He was 80 years old.

His family said he was in the hospital for tests when he died and they don’t know why.

After teaching at Tufts University in Massachusetts for 47 years, Dr. Krimsky issued a sweeping warning of the growing conflicts of interest universities face when accepting multi-million-dollar grants from institutional organizations such as pharmaceutical and biotech companies.

In his book “Science in Special Interest” (2003), he argued that the lure of profit potentially corrupts research and in the process undermines the integrity and independence of universities.

But far-reaching public policy work has gone far beyond just marking the dangers inherent in the commercialization of science. As the author, co-author or editor of 17 books and more than 200 journal articles, he has explored numerous scientific fields such as stem cell research, genetic modification of food and DNA privacy among them, and sought to identify potential problems.

Stem cell researcher at Tufts and Dr. “He was the Ralph Nader of bioethics,” Jonathan Garlick, a friend of Krimsky’s, said in a phone call, citing his longtime consumer lawyer.

Dr. “If we don’t slow down and pay attention to key checkpoints, he said, when you get the genie out of the bottle, there can be irreversible damage that can continue for many generations,” Garlick added. “He wanted to protect us from irreversible harm.”

In “Genetic Justice” (2012), Dr. Krimsky wrote that DNA evidence is not always reliable, and government agencies create huge DNA databases that pose a threat to civil liberties. In “The GMO Deception” (2014), which he edited with Jeremy Gruber, he criticized the agriculture and food industries for altering the genetic makeup of foods.

His last book, published in 2021, was “Understanding DNA Ancestry,” in which he explained the complications of ancestry studies and said that results from different genetic ancestry testing companies can differ in their results. Recently, he had begun to explore the topic of stem cell meat—meat made from lab-grown animal cells.

Mr. Nader, in fact, Dr. He had a long relationship with Krimsky and wrote the introduction to some of his books.

“There really was no one like him: meticulous, courageous and productive,” Mr. 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, saying that science should always leave open options 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.

Known as Shelly, Sheldon majored in physics and mathematics at Brooklyn College, graduating in 1963. She earned a Master of Science degree in physics from Purdue University in 1965. At Boston University, she earned a Master of Arts in philosophy in 1968 and a PhD in philosophy of science in 1970.

He was survived by his wife, Carolyn Boriss-Krimsky, a playwright, artist and writer, whom he married in 1970; daughter Alyssa Krimsky Clossey; a son, Eliot; three grandchildren; and a brother, Sydney.

Dr. Krimsky began his relationship with Tufts in what was called the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning in 1974 and helped establish it over the decades. He also taught ethics at Tufts University School of Medicine and was visiting professor at Columbia University, Brooklyn College, New School, and New York University.

In the late 1970s, a chemical company began exploring conflicts of interest in academic research when a chemical company led a team of students to investigate whether WR Grace had contaminated drinking wells in Acton, Mass.

Dr. When Krimsky learned that the company was going to issue a negative report – the wells were later designated as a Superfund site – one of his top managers asked the president of Tufts to bury the work and fire him. The president refused. However, Dr. Krimsky was annoyed by the company’s attempt to interfere, and this led him to examine how companies tried to manipulate science, whether they made a financial contribution or not.

“He told the truth to power,” Garlick said. “He wanted to give a voice to the skeptic and to give a voice to the skeptics.”

Dr. Krimsky was a longtime advocate of what he calls “organized skepticism.”

“When allegations are made, you have to start with skepticism until the evidence is that strong and your skepticism is gone,” he told The Boston Globe in 2014. , and that must be true.’”

He was a member 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 member of the Hastings Center, a bioethics research institute in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. and served on the editorial boards of seven scientific journals.

When he wasn’t working, he liked to play the guitar and harmonica. He divided his time between Cambridge and New York City.

Dr. “Shelly never gave up hope for a better world,” said Julian Agyeman, professor in Krimsky’s department and interim president of that department. Tufts obituary. “He was an excellent activist-advocate-scholar.”