Conflicts are everywhere

doi:10.1136/bmj.39507.396644.80

BMJ 2008;336:522 (8 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.39507.396644.80

Letters

Doctors’ education

Conflicts are everywhere

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Yet another tedious BMJ article on the "evils" of the drug industry.¹Perhaps the BMJ should start to focus on wider aspects of conflictof interest, such as pharmaceutical advisers peddling the verdictsof the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence—whichitself bows to a government remit to contain cost—or toacademic departments only publishing positive data to bolsterresearch assessment exercise ratings and secure future grants.Conflicts of interest abound in modern medicine, and layingall the problems at the door of the drug industry seems to bemissing the point—or perhaps the BMJ goes out of its wayto "industry bash" to make itself feel less guilty about acceptingindustry advertising money.

Highly qualified medical professionals should not see themselvesas hapless victims of a marketing machine, they should simplyget smart and trained in how to manage the interface with commercialpartners. It is a scandal . . . [Full text of this article]

Hari Singh, general practitioner

¹ Clare Road Surgery, Cardiff CF11 6RW

harisingh41@hotmail.com