Medical researchers face conflicts of interest

Another reason to be fit.

"Dr. Bruce Psaty of University of Washington in Seattle knows how easy it can be to fall under the spell of a friendly relationship with drug companies.

As an assistant professor, he published an article on using beta-blockers to treat high blood pressure that caught the attention of the pharmaceutical industry.

'My family and I were invited to a first-class resort, where I presented the results at a sponsored conference,' Psaty wrote in a commentary this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

He agreed to help develop a set of slides on beta-blockers and soon found himself suggesting that the drug company's studies be featured, in part because he felt 'a kind of social duty to reciprocate both the kindness and the investment made by the sponsor in the slide set.'"

There is less need to rely on the possibly corrupted data that the alleged cures for self-inflicted illnesses use to "prove" their value.