Given full disclosure of industry relationships, it seems over the
top to ban anyone with such ties from writing editorials UNLESS the BMJ
feels that (1) anyone with industry ties (and exactly how will such "ties"
be defined?) has absolutely nothing to add to any discussion and (2) its
readers are incapable of judging for themselves the credibility of those
who write editorials and reviews. The ban proposed by Godlee is not even
a tacit statement of "guilty until proven innocent" but rather "guilty by
association". What is most bothersome is the unspoken assumption that
editors and readers need only address conflicts of interest in industry
and those who associate with industry. Does the BMJ truly believe that
bias and conflict of interest in other settings, especially academic
research, should not be of equal concern to its readers?
Competing interests:
Gary Evoniuk is a full-time employee of GlaxoSmithKline. The views expressed in this letter are Dr. Evoniuk's personal opinions and have not been reviewed, edited or approved by anyone else at GSK.
Rapid Response:
Guilty by association?
Given full disclosure of industry relationships, it seems over the
top to ban anyone with such ties from writing editorials UNLESS the BMJ
feels that (1) anyone with industry ties (and exactly how will such "ties"
be defined?) has absolutely nothing to add to any discussion and (2) its
readers are incapable of judging for themselves the credibility of those
who write editorials and reviews. The ban proposed by Godlee is not even
a tacit statement of "guilty until proven innocent" but rather "guilty by
association". What is most bothersome is the unspoken assumption that
editors and readers need only address conflicts of interest in industry
and those who associate with industry. Does the BMJ truly believe that
bias and conflict of interest in other settings, especially academic
research, should not be of equal concern to its readers?
Competing interests: Gary Evoniuk is a full-time employee of GlaxoSmithKline. The views expressed in this letter are Dr. Evoniuk's personal opinions and have not been reviewed, edited or approved by anyone else at GSK.