Can we trust medical journals?

[Guest guest]

> JustSayNo

> Thu, 15 Jul 2004 18:56:17 -0700 (PDT)

> [sSRI-Research] Can we trust medical

> journals?

>

> [--Of course not...]

>

>

> Journals, authors cited for conflicts of interest

>

> By Robert Davis, USA TODAY

>

> Posted 7/12/2004 8:46 PM

>

> Some leading scientific and medical journals do not

> always enforce their

> conflict of interest policies with the authors of

> published studies,

> according to a new report.

>

> The Center for Science in the Public Interest found

> that in some cases the

> journals did not disclose contributing authors'

> financial conflicts of

> interest even though the journals' own rules require

> such disclosures.

>

> " There is a consistent pattern here, " says Merrill

> Goozner, CSPI project

> director. " This is an unacceptable level, and the

> journals need to take

> action. "

>

> The findings come amid growing concern over the

> influence that private

> industry has on scientific research. For example,

> journal editors, including

> those responsible for some of the content that was

> studied by CSPI, are

> considering requiring drug companies to register all

> clinical trials in a

> database for more accountability.

>

> The study examined 163 articles in The New England

> Journal of Medicine,

> TheJournal of the American Medical Association

> (JAMA), Environmental Health

> Perspectives, and Toxicology and Applied

> Pharmacology and found that the

> authors of 13 articles had relevant conflicts of

> interest that were not

> reported to readers.

>

> The most obvious conflicts were reported, such as

> when the research was

> funded by a company that employs the author. But the

> CSPI researchers found

> hidden conflicts in what Goozner calls " the

> margins, " in which there was no

> direct link, but the researcher stood to benefit

> from the same industry.

>

> One author of a study on heart disease, for

> instance, failed to reveal

> relationships with 20 companies that made

> cardiovascular drugs or devices.

>

> " This is important for the general public and the

> scientific community

> because full disclosure gives you another piece of

> information for

> evaluating these studies, " Goozner says. " If you

> hide the fact that there is

> a conflict of interest with the researcher, then you

> are deceiving people. "

>

> CSPI is a consumer advocacy organization. It says

> that journal editors

> should:

>

> * Require all authors to disclose all financial

> arrangements made with

> private firms within the past three years, whether

> or not those arrangements

> are directly related to the subject of the article.

> Patents, patent

> applications and an intention to apply for a patent

> also should be revealed.

>

> * Impose sanctions against authors who fail to

> disclose conflicts of

> interests, perhaps banning the author from

> publishing in the journal for

> three years.

>

> The study found the highest incidence of unreported

> conflicts of interests

> at JAMA, where six of 57 articles, or 11%, failed to

> disclose a financial

> conflict of interest. In most cases, the authors of

> the JAMA studies in

> question told CSPI that they had not disclosed the

> information to the

> journal editors.

>

> Phil Fontanarosa, JAMA's executive deputy editor,

> said Monday that he had

> not yet seen the study and could not comment on it.

> But he said the study

> " will help keep the issue on the front burner. "

>

> " We all want the same thing, which is transparency

> of reporting of conflicts

> of interests, " he said.

>

> " These journals were picked because they have the

> best policies, " Goozner

> says. " Imagine what is happening at the lesser

> journals. "

>

> Find this article at:

>

>

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2004-07-12-journal-conflicts_x.htm

>

> --

> Alex Chernavsky

> alexc

> http://www.astrocyte-design.com/

>