Incestuous Amplification: Jerome B. Kassirer, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine has an op-ed in today's Washington Post that takes the authors of the new cholesterol lowering guidelines to task. Kassirer has long been a vocal critic of the incestuous relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and medicine, and he makes a good point in his op-ed:

Better still, we should dissuade leading physicians from doing non-scientific work for pharmaceutical makers. Doctors who want to be respected as independent authorities should not become paid speakers for drug companies or consult with the industry on marketing issues. These arrangements do not benefit medicine or improve patient care; they only promote the profit goals of the companies. We should save the prized task of preparing clinical practice guidelines for experts without such conflicts. After all, having a financial conflict is voluntary; physicians can either take it or leave it. We must convince them to leave it.

Amen.