Ethics, morality, and conflicting interests: How questionable professional integrity in some scientists supports global corporate influence in public health

International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health

Volumn 21, Issue 2, 2015, Pages 172-175

  Baur, Xaver ^a   Budnik, Lygia Therese ^b   Ruff, Kathleen ^c   Egilman, David S ^d   Lemen, Richard A ^e   Soskolne, Colin L ^f,g  

^a CHARITÉ UNIVERSITÄTSMEDIZIN BERLIN   (Germany)

^b UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER HAMBURG EPPENDORF   (Germany)

^c Rideau Institute on International Affairs   (Canada)

^d BROWN UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^e EMORY UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^f UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA   (Canada)

^g UNIVERSITY OF CANBERRA   (Australia)

Author keywords

Conflict of interest; Corporate ties; Environmental health; Ethics in medical science; Moral dimension of bioscience

Indexed keywords

CONFLICT OF INTEREST; ECONOMICS; ETHICS; HUMAN; INDUSTRY; LOBBYING; MEDICAL RESEARCH; MORALITY; OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH; PUBLIC HEALTH;

BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH; CONFLICT OF INTEREST; HUMANS; INDUSTRY; LOBBYING; MORALS; OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH; PUBLIC HEALTH;

EID: 84937130320     PISSN: 10773525     EISSN: 20493967     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1179/2049396714Y.0000000103     Document Type: Article

References (28)

1. Grandjean P, Ozonoff D. Transparency and translation of science in a modern world. Environ Health. 2013;12(1):70.
2. Melnick RL, Ward JM, Huff J. War on carcinogens: industry disputes human relevance of chemicals causing cancer in laboratory animals based on unproven hypotheses, using kidney tumors as an example. Int J Occup Environ Health. 2013;19(4):255-60.
3. Cosgrove L, Krimsky S. A comparison of DSM-IV and DSM-5 panel members' financial associations with industry: a pernicious problem persists. PLoS Med. 2012;9(3):e1001190.
4. Ashford NA, Castleman B, Frank AL, Giannasi F, Goldman LR, Greenberg M, et al. The international commission on occupational health (ICOH) and its influence on international organizations. Int J Occup Environ Health. 2002;8(2):156-62.
5. LaDou J, Teitelbaum DT, Egilman DS, Frank AL, Kramer SN, Huff J. American college of occupational and environmental medicine (ACOEM): a professional association in service to industry. Int J Occup Environ Health. 2007; 13(4):404-26.
6. Huff J. Industry influence on occupational and environmental public health. Int J Occup Environ Health. 2007;13(1):107-17.
7. Egilman D, Druar NM. Spin your science into gold: direct to consumer marketing within social media platforms. Work. 2012;41(Suppl 1):4494-502.
8. Egilman DS, Schilling JH. Bronchiolitis obliterans and consumer exposure to butter-flavored microwave popcorn: a case series. Int J Occup Environ Health. 2012;18(1):29-42.
9. Baur X, Colin LS, Lemen RA, Schneider J, Woitowitz H-J, Budnik LT. How conflicted authors undermine the World Health Organization (WHO) campaign to stop all use of asbestos. Spotlight on studies showing that chrysotile is carcinogenic and facilitates other non-cancer asbestos-related diseases. 2015, International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, DOI 10.1179/2049396714Y.0000000105
10. Michaels D. Doubt is their product: how industry's assault on science threatens your health. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2008.
11. Pearce N. Corporate influences on epidemiology. International J Epidemiol. 2008;37(1):46-53.
12. DeAngelis CD, Fontanarosa PB. Impugning the integrity of medical science: the adverse effects of industry influence. JAMA. 2008;299(15):1833-5.
13. DeAngelis CD, Fontanarosa PB. Ensuring integrity in industrysponsored research: primum non nocere, revisited. JAMA. 2010;303(12):1196-8.
14. Rabesandratana T. Epidemiology. Top choice for French post drops out in industry flap. Science. 2014;343(6171):586-7.
15. Bergman A, Andersson AM, Becher G, van den Berg M, Blumberg B, Bjerregaard P, et al. Science and policy on endocrine disrupters must not be mixed: a reply to a 'common sense' intervention by toxicology journal editors. Environ Health. 2013;12:69.
16. Tong EK, Glantz SA. Tobacco industry efforts undermining evidence linking secondhand smoke with cardiovascular disease. Circulation. 2007;116(16):1845-54.
17. Attacks-on-WHO. International chrysotile association, a doctor working with the World Health Organization (WHOho) supports the crusade of powerful lobbies; 2014. Available from: http://wwwchrysotileassociationcom/en/news/n_listphp.
18. Zimbabwe Chrysotile Asbestos Position Paper. 2014. http:// wwwrightoncanadaca/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Zimbabwe- Chrysotile-position-paper2014pdf
19. ISEEPI. International society for environmental epidemiology: procedure for dealing with beleaguered colleagues and/or potential whistleblowers; 2000. Available from: http://wwwisee piorg/About/Docs/iseeprocedurefordealingwithbeleagueredcolle aguespdf.
20. Gluckman P. Policy: the art of science advice to government. Nature. 2014;507(7491):163-5.
21. Mendelson TB, Meltzer M, Campbell EG, Caplan AL, Kirkpatrick JN. Conflicts of interest in cardiovascular clinical practice guidelines. Arch Intern Med. 2011;171(6):577-84.
22. Institute-of-Medicine. Clinical practice guidelines we can trust: report brief. Washington, DC: National Academies Press; 2011.
23. Hardell L, Walker MJ, Walhjalt B, Friedman LS, Richter ED. Secret ties to industry and conflicting interests in cancer research. Am J Ind Med. 2007;50(3):227-33.
24. Friedman LS, Richter ED. Relationship between conflicts of interest and research results. J Gen Intern Med. 2004;19(1): 51-6.
25. Bekelman JE, Li Y, Gross CP. Scope and impact of financial conflicts of interest in biomedical research: a systematic review. JAMA. 2003;289(4):454-65.
26. Kjaergard LL, Als-Nielsen B. Association between competing interests and authors' conclusions: epidemiological study of randomised clinical trials published in the BMJ. BMJ. 2002;325(7358):249.
27. Krimsky S. Combating the funding effect in science: what's beyond transparency? Stanford Law Policy Rev. 2010;21:101- 23.
28. Shnier A, Lexchin J, Mintzes B, Jutel A, Holloway K. Too few, too weak: conflict of interest policies at Canadian medical schools. PloS One. 2013;8(7):e68633.