Fw: Hype in Health Reporting

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MM

Martha Murdock, DirectorNational Silicone Implant Foundation | Dallas Headquarters"Supporting Survivors of Medical Implant Devices"4416 Willow LaneDallas, TX 75244-7537

----- Original Message ----- From: Zuckerman

Eileen M. Swanson ; toxicdiscovery@...

Sent: Saturday, September 21, 2002 12:31 AM

Subject: Hype in Health Reporting

This is also available on www.fair.org and www.center4policy.org and www.breastimplantinfo.org.

Extra!, September/October 2002

Hype in Health Reporting

"Checkbook science" buys distortion of medical news

By Zuckerman

You've heard of junk science--a term coined by corporations to describe research they don’t like--but the real danger to public health might be called "checkbook science": research intended not to expand knowledge or to benefit humanity, but instead to sell products.

Every day it seems there’s a story touting a "promising" new medical product or treatment. Unfortunately, many of those news stories are based on public relations spin machines going into overdrive on behalf of the company that sells the product--whether it’s a pharmaceutical company, a chain of diet clinics or a plastic surgery practice selling a new technique.

Do reporters know that so much medical news is actually unpaid advertising? The most effective industry influence is so well-hidden that many reporters and producers are totally unaware of it. The role of pharmaceutical companies and other health care industry interests in shaping news coverage of medical products and treatment is as invisible as it is pervasive.

The phone calls, press releases and press conferences that bring attention to new studies are the most obvious ways that companies shape medical news; but there are subtler strategies that are much more effective. For example, Excerpta Medica is a PR firm hired by pharmaceutical and other medical companies to launch new products. On their website and in other public documents, they have claimed responsibility for developing several new medical journals and other strategies to "establish a scientific base" for expanded use of their clients' offerings.

What about medical stories based on articles in prestigious medical journals? In some cases, these articles are also bought and paid for. When the stakes are high, companies hire public relations firms that hire medical writers to ghostwrite academic-style articles for medical school professors to submit to well-respected medical journals. The companies also establish speakers’ bureaus--lists of selected professors who are paid thousands of dollars in honoraria and travel expenses to speak at newsworthy national and international conferences.

It’s a win-win for the "experts" and the companies. The professors benefit because their employment status is based on being published in journals and invited to conferences. The companies benefit by having the name of a faculty member from a major university attached to an article or presentation endorsing their product. It’s a real winner when the news headline refers to the industry’s new study by its author’s affiliation--e.g., "the Harvard study"--thus ensuring that the results will be taken seriously