BMJ 1994;309:880 (1 October)

Letters

Identifying conflict of interest

EDITOR, - The letter from Peter Lee, a consultant in statistics and epidemiology, has a footnote saying that he is a consultant to the tobacco industry.1 Should readers infer that his assertions are somehow less professional, less objective, or less accurate? May we now expect all letters from the many advisers and consultants who serve the interest of Action on Smoking and Health and other antitobacco pressure groups to have similar footnotes? I hope so, otherwise the BMJ is open to the charge that it employs intellectual discrimination.

C Turner 

Tobacco Manufacturers Association, London SW1E 5AG.

  1. Lee P. Smoking during pregnancy and congenital limb deficiency. BMJ 1994;309:476. (13 August.) [Free Full Text]
***Conflict of interest is a condition, not a behaviour, and when we attach a statement of conflict of interest to a piece we are not saying that it is less worthy than a piece with no such statement attached. It may or may not be, but we leave . . . [Full text of this article]


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