Online Comments Lead to BMJ's Disclosure of "Competing Interests"
Mar. 15th, 2011 by Andrew Van Dam
Filed under: Conflicts of interest, Health journalism
In BMJ, Bob Roehr wrote about a report published by German researchers in the Canadian Medical Association Journal describing an apparent tendency for journals that accept pharmaceutical advertising to publish more positive drug-related articles than those that depend on subscription dollars to pay the bills. The study and the Roehr’s summary are good reading in their own right, but the comment section is where things really get interesting.
There, Age of Autism UK editor John Stone points to a commentary penned by the Alliance for Human Research Protection’s Vera Hassner Sharav and draws into question BMJ’s sources of funding. His main focus is the tension between that publication’s Andrew Wakefield investigations and its receipt of money from an arm of Merck...
As always John, BIG HUGE THANKS!!!!!
Posted by: Kathleen | March 20, 2011 at 05:48 PM
VACCINES CAUSE AUTISM
Vera Hassner Sharav
Whoever you are I would like to personally thank you for your commentary which was not incendiary in the least bit. Your information was accurate and truthful.
Only a chronic pathological liar finds the truth incendiary and farfetched.
Your exposure of their out and out lying about their relationship is absolutely crucial to the entire argument that we cannot and will not TRUST the research or the researchers when it comes to vaccines autism and any other pharmaceutical drug or the people that support them at any level, any level. I have included your comments below as well as the fraudulent disclaimer BMJ posted.
Vera Hassner Sharav wrote in her commentary
"Finally, the Statement about Competing Interests at the end of the BMJ Editorial claims compliance with conflict of interest disclosure requirements of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. But the BMJ editor in chief and two deputy editors conceal rather than disclose the most relevant financial conflict of interest:"
Godlee’s declaration was as follows:
"Competing interests: All authors have completed the Unified Competing Interest form at www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf (available on request from the corresponding author) and declare: no support from any organization for the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous three years”
After she was exposed as a fraud and a liar Godlee responded thus
"Although Vera’s claims may seem farfetched on this occasion, she is right that we should have declared the BMJ Group’s income from Merck as a competing interest to the editorial (and the two editor’s choice articles) that accompanied Brian Deer’s series on the Secrets of the MMR scare. We should also, as you say, have declared the group’s income from GSK as a competing interest in relation to these articles. We will publish clarifications."
This is what is commonly known as an admission of guilt or a confession that they lied. Even though the journals are “free” they are used to influence professionals and the way that they think. Most physicians do not have a clue that vaccines are a medical hoax and a fraud because these pharmaceutical cartels have bought up journals and med schools and physicians
Lancet is owned by the company Elsevier therefore if Lancet has a financial conflict with Merck and others so does the publishing house Elsevier. This sort of a pseudo academic publishing shell game is at the heart of the entire vaccine scandal. The pharmaceutical company creates a company that claims to be learning resource center and that resource center “sponsors” these free journals or part free journals and then they publish work that supports the pharmaceutical companies that pays them
Dr. Godlee the BMJ and LANCET have committed civil and criminal offenses. None of their work can EVER BE TRUSTED EVER.
Good work Vera Hassner Sharav
VACCINES CAUSE AUTISM
Posted by: Willie | March 20, 2011 at 12:36 PM
Way to go, John Stone!!!
Posted by: Jake Crosby | March 19, 2011 at 09:25 PM
Stone rocks!
Posted by: Twyla | March 19, 2011 at 03:42 PM
Pia,
Thanks for the clarification.
AoA readers may like to look up my new comment on the Health Journalist's blog.
John
Posted by: John Stone | March 18, 2011 at 04:04 PM
To clarify: We are the Association of Health Care Journalists. The organization is based in the United States but it is an international organization with members and training events around the world.
Posted by: Pia Christensen | March 18, 2011 at 12:12 PM