Conflict of interest: Equanimity upset

BMJ 1998;317:318 ( 1 August )

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Conflict of interest

Equanimity upset

Joseph Herman, family practitioner, Netivot, Israel.
The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Sir William Osler was characteristically outspoken on conflicts of interest. In Aequinimitas he referred to keeping the practitioner"out of the clutches of the arch enemy of his professional independence $---$ thepernicious literature of our camp followers, a literature increasingin bulk....The profession has no more insidious foe than the largeborderland pharmaceutical houses." ¹ He proposed as an "antidoteto the corroding influence of Mammon ... the presence in the communityof a body of men devoted to science, living for investigationand caring nothing for the lust of the eyes and the pride of life."¹

What would he have said about today when many such persons are, to some extent "on the take"? Would he not have concurredwith the idea that the blandishments of commerce can predisposean investigator to gratitude? Is it too much to suggest that gratitude,at times a strong feeling, is hardly the stuff of . . . [Full text of this article]

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Beyond conflict of interest: Richard Smith
BMJ 1998 317: 291-292. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Ethical debate: Should industry sponsor research? • Tobacco industry research: collaboration, not confrontation, is the best approach • Tobacco company sponsorship discredits medical but not all research • Condemning the drinks industry rules out potentially useful research • If the drinks industry does not clean up its act, pariah status is inevitable • Collaborative research with infant formula companies should not always be censored • How much research in infant feeding comes from unethical marketing?: Christopher J Proctor, Tom Sorell, Hurst Hannum, Griffith Edwards, Alan Lucas, and Patti Rundall
BMJ 1998 317: 333-339. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]