E-drug: Re: BMJ starts drug advertising on website
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The argument from the BMJ reminds me of arguments used to justify getting
pharmaceutical company sponsorship for CME events: the money that the
companies pay helps keep the cost of conferences down for doctors. My
trouble with that sort of argument has always been that 1) doctors are not
poor to begin with and 2) what other group in society gets to have it's
continuing education paid for to such an extent. There have been studies
done that show that even with guidelines about sponsorship of CME events
there is still a bias in favour of the companies doing the sponsoring.
Is the BMJ monitoring the quality of the ads on its web site? Probably not
since it doesn't independently monitor the quality of the ads in the
journal. A free web site is useful for health care professionals from
Third World countries where there is limited access to good quality medical
information. Personally, I would be willing to pay for access to the BMJ
site and actually pay a little extra so that Third World
physicians/pharmacists/etc. could continue to have free access.
Joel Lexchin
Joel Lexchin MD
121 Walmer Rd.
Toronto, Ontario
CANADA M5R 2X8
Phone: (416)-964-7186
Fax: (416)-923-9515
e mail: joel.lexchin@utoronto.ca
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