Gaffes and Leaks Invade Journals' Ivory Tower

Still want to trust these folks?

After all, they persist in being the public's executioners in the weight loss domain, arguably the most critical sick care issue we face.

"The integrity of the medical publication process has been called into question by a series of embarrassing incidents over the past two years.

For example, just last month, it was revealed that authors of a high-profile 2006 New England Journal of Medicine paper on CT screening for early-stage lung cancer had failed to disclose patents they held on related technology as well as the fact that a tobacco company had provided much of their funding.

The NEJM is not the only top journal to be embarrassed.

In the space of two months in 2006, authors of three separate papers in the Journal of the American Medical Association -- on arthritis, cancer, and migraine treatment -- belatedly acknowledged funding and consulting relationships with firms selling arthritis, cancer, and migraine drugs, which they had not disclosed to the journal's editors."

And it will not stop, I predict.