(OMNS, February 5, 2009) It may be the worst-kept secret in medicine:
pharmaceutical money buys journal influence. What the public has so long
suspected has now been demonstrated in a recently published peer-reviewed
study. (1) Researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and
the University of Florida found that “in major medical journals, more
pharmaceutical advertising is associated with publishing fewer articles
about dietary supplements.” Furthermore, they found that more pharmaceutical
company advertising resulted in the journal having more articles with
“negative conclusions about dietary supplement safety.”
This new study, the first of its kind, specifically looked at pharmaceutical
advertising as compared with journal text about dietary supplements. The
authors reviewed a year’s worth of issues from each of eleven of the largest
medical journals: the Journal of the American Medical Association, New
England Journal of Medicine, British Medical Journal, Canadian Medical
Association Journal, Annals of Internal Medicine, Archives of Internal
Medicine, Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Pediatrics and
Pediatric Research, and American Family Physician.
The results were statistically significant. . . and embarrassing. Medical
journals carrying the most pharmaceutical ads “published significantly fewer
major articles about dietary supplements per issue than journals with the
fewest pharmads (P < 0.01). Journals with the most pharmads published no
clinical trials or cohort studies about supplements. The percentage of major
articles concluding that supplements were unsafe was 4% in journals with
fewest and 67% among those with the most pharmads (P = 0.02)." The authors
concluded that "the impact of advertising on publications" is real, and said
that "the ultimate impact of this bias on professional guidelines, health
care, and health policy is a matter of great public concern."
Indeed it is. Health care costs are rising and drug profits are enormous.
Canadian psychiatrist Abram Hoffer, M.D, Ph.D., says: "We all have to work
hard to educate the public about the merits of sane treatment for everyone,
where the patient is primary, not Big Pharma." Bo H. Jonsson, M.D., Ph.D.,
of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, comments that "Positive reports about
the effects of high-dose vitamins have long been ignored by the medical
establishment instead of being further examined scientifically."
When patients ask about nutritional treatments, many a family physician has
replied, "I've never seen any studies supporting the safety or efficacy of
vitamin supplements in my professional journals. The research is simply not
there."
Sadly, they are right. And now we know why.
Major medical journals, their editors, and their authors appear to be on the
take. Harsh words? Perhaps, but only because the truth is harsh. "One the
take" refers to receiving cash in exchange for influence. It is naive to
assume that money does not corrupt. Promoting vested interests masquerading
as science is wrong and it must be stopped. At the very least, accepting
money carries an obligation to account for the source of that money. All
medical journals should be compelled to print a full disclosure in every
issue itemizing exactly how much money comes from exactly which sources.
Any medical journal that won't disclose has a reason to not disclose. And
that reason has nothing to do with public health. It's about private cash.
The cash that induces the journals to sway the doctors to persuade the
public.
If the medical journals deny this, let them prove it with full disclosure.
Now.
*References:*
(1) Kemper KJ, Hood KL. Does pharmaceutical advertising affect journal
publication about dietary supplements? BMC Complement Altern Med. 2008 Apr
9;8:11. Full text at
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/8/11
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=18400092
For years we have been advising our patients about the need to take supplements, and feel that organized medicine has let the patients of this country down. Medical Doctors, MD’s, are just that, pushers of pills. To read more look at: http://www.cent4dent.com/pdfs/vaccines_essayLong.pdf and be sure to look at the Floss or Die pages of www.cent4dent.com