1. Posted by A Yahoo! Health User on Thu, Jul 27, 2006, 8:13 pm PDT

TMI for my little brain tonight ,Doc!

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2. Posted by A Yahoo! Health User on Fri, Sep 01, 2006, 11:59 am PDT

Dear Dr. Margolis: I know that this letter/comment is long, but I hope you will read through it nonetheless, since I believe I have uncovered some information that will be of particular interest to you and your readers. I was glad to read your July 27th post, “Why Conflicts of Interest Should Matter to You,” and agree with everything you said -- especially your comment that “physicians themselves must step up and address the issue of inappropriate ties to industry.” I couldn't agree more. As a medical/health advocate and writer, I decided to dig deeper into this problem of physician/pharmaceutical company ties, with particular emphasis on the recent JAMA controversy, since I wanted write about it on my website, www.honestmedicine.com. What my research uncovered was disheartening. I am sure you already know that after all the publicity concerning physicians' non-disclosure of financial ties, JAMA demanded that the doctors/authors of the controversial February study disclose their ties. The doctors’ ties, it turned out, were considerable. The lead author, Harvard’s Lee Cohen, MD, reported receiving grant support from eight pharmaceutical companies, consulting work from six, and serving on the speakers’ bureau of eight! Unbelievably, Dr. Cohen and his co-authors stated in their letter-to-the-editor (appearing in the same issue of JAMA) that “we do not view those associations as relevant to this study.” Can you imagine? Believe it or not, it gets worse. I discovered that JAMA had actually produced and disseminated VIDEO NEWS RELEASES (VNRs, often called “fake news”) to promote these controversial studies! As you probably know, VNRs are slick video ads, produced by PR and advertising companies and sent to the media. The media, in turn, airs these “fake news” releases as actual NEWS! And this is how the public gets duped -- not knowing what is actual news and what is slick advertising! I hope you will read my 3-part series about the JAMA controversy on my website, www.honestmedicine.com. You will see that in Part 2, “How JAMA Publicized Its Two Controversial Articles/Studies,” I provide actual LINKS to the actual video news releases that JAMA produced. (The VNRs were most probably actually produced by an outside agency, also cited in my article.) If you click on the link I provide to this JAMA VNR, you will be able to watch the actual video, and you will see that Dr. Cohen personally participated in the filming of this “fake news” story. In fact, he is the main spokesperson on this VNR. It is a pretty well known fact that pharmaceutical companies routinely produce and disseminate this kind of “fake news.” What is NOT known is that universities and professional organizations such as the AMA, also send out VNRs. The link to my 3-part article may be found at http://honestmedicine.typepad.com/medical_watch/2006/08/introducing_jam.html. I hope you will find it interesting, and that you will want to help me get the word out about this really deceptive practice of sending out video news releases. Thank you very much. And again, thank you so much for writing your wonderful article. Very sincerely, Julia Schopick www.honestmedicine.com email: JuliaS1573@aol.com NOTE: fishjs1@aol.com is my alternate email address)

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3. Posted by A Yahoo! Health User on Fri, Sep 01, 2006, 12:00 pm PDT

Dear Dr. Margolis: I know that this letter/comment is long, but I hope you will read through it nonetheless, since I believe I have uncovered some information that will be of particular interest to you and your readers. I was glad to read your July 27th post, “Why Conflicts of Interest Should Matter to You,” and agree with everything you said -- especially your comment that “physicians themselves must step up and address the issue of inappropriate ties to industry.” I couldn't agree more. As a medical/health advocate and writer, I decided to dig deeper into this problem of physician/pharmaceutical company ties, with particular emphasis on the recent JAMA controversy, since I wanted write about it on my website, www.honestmedicine.com. What my research uncovered was disheartening. I am sure you already know that after all the publicity concerning physicians' non-disclosure of financial ties, JAMA demanded that the doctors/authors of the controversial February study disclose their ties. The doctors’ ties, it turned out, were considerable. The lead author, Harvard’s Lee Cohen, MD, reported receiving grant support from eight pharmaceutical companies, consulting work from six, and serving on the speakers’ bureau of eight! Unbelievably, Dr. Cohen and his co-authors stated in their letter-to-the-editor (appearing in the same issue of JAMA) that “we do not view those associations as relevant to this study.” Can you imagine? Believe it or not, it gets worse. I discovered that JAMA had actually produced and disseminated VIDEO NEWS RELEASES (VNRs, often called “fake news”) to promote these controversial studies! As you probably know, VNRs are slick video ads, produced by PR and advertising companies and sent to the media. The media, in turn, airs these “fake news” releases as actual NEWS! And this is how the public gets duped -- not knowing what is actual news and what is slick advertising! I hope you will read my 3-part series about the JAMA controversy on my website, www.honestmedicine.com. You will see that in Part 2, “How JAMA Publicized Its Two Controversial Articles/Studies,” I provide actual LINKS to the actual video news releases that JAMA produced. (The VNRs were most probably actually produced by an outside agency, also cited in my article.) If you click on the link I provide to this JAMA VNR, you will be able to watch the actual video, and you will see that Dr. Cohen personally participated in the filming of this “fake news” story. In fact, he is the main spokesperson on this VNR. It is a pretty well known fact that pharmaceutical companies routinely produce and disseminate this kind of “fake news.” What is NOT known is that universities and professional organizations such as the AMA, also send out VNRs. The link to my 3-part article may be found at http://honestmedicine.typepad.com/medical_watch/2006/08/introducing_jam.html. I hope you will find it interesting, and that you will want to help me get the word out about this really deceptive practice of sending out video news releases. Thank you very much. And again, thank you so much for writing your wonderful article. Very sincerely, Julia Schopick www.honestmedicine.com email: JuliaS1573@aol.com NOTE: fishjs1@aol.com is my alternate email address)

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4. Posted by A Yahoo! Health User on Fri, Jul 06, 2007, 3:42 pm PDT

So important in all situations to cover your bases. Please be informed clients in all business. Ask doctors, attorneys, counselors and other professionals their interests and any clinical trials they are previewing. It is a tremendous effort for our family presently going through an encephalopathy identification with a neurologist who may or may not find an answer before we have an autopsy to face...that is extreme. I am sure that the health community has explored efforts to work with the european medical community to find out about the TSEs and other infective diseases of the nervous system. I feel we are facing a giant iceberg for the future with persons that may be incubating such diseases. It is a prospect for the National Health System to consider....thank you

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