Bioethicist Carl Elliott continues his call for reform in bioethics, now with an editorial in The Lancet. He writes, "As the influence of bioethics has grown, so has the willingness of bioethicists to seek out funding from the pharmaceutical and biotechnical industries." And the results of this industry-funded work, he says, are now appearing in peer-reviewed academic journals.
"Even discussions of conflict of interest have become tainted by questions of conflict of interest," he writes. He cites one journal article and one AMA project - both on taking gifts from industry - yet both funded by gifts from industry.
Elliott calls for a new journal policy: "If an editorialist writing on ethics or health policy has a financial interest in the topic on which he or she is writing, the journal should not publish the article."
Posted by schwitz at July 19, 2005 08:11 AM | TrackBack