CNN's health conflict of interest

[Guest guest]

It is ridiculous how CNN is pushing vaccines and

other questionable medications, thanks to

Sanjay Gupta a others in CNN. I think a law should be passed to forbid media

companies to from getting Pharmaceutical sponsors. Forward if you can, we

might stop this from happening.

http://www.bnet.com/blog/drug-business/how-cnn-8217s-sanjay-gupta-became-big-pha\

rma-8217s-favorite-face/6126

<http://www.bnet.com/blog/drug-business/how-cnn-8217s-sanjay-gupta-became-big-ph\

arma-8217s-favorite-face/6126>

How CNN’s Sanjay Gupta Became Big Pharma’s Favorite Face

By Jim <http://www.bnet.com/search?q=jim+edwards> | October 19, 2010

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Comments<http://www.bnet.com/blog/drug-business/how-cnn-8217s-sanjay-gupta-becam\

e-big-pharma-8217s-favorite-face/6126#talkback>

[image: Jim ] <http://www.bnet.com/blog/drug-business>

Placebo Effect <http://www.bnet.com/blog/drug-business>Jim

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View more <http://www.bnet.com/news>

<http://i.bnet.com/blogs/host_gumpta.jpg>On Propublica’s list of 17,000

doctors who take money from Big

Pharma<http://projects.propublica.org/docdollars/top_earners>,

one of the standout names is “*Sanjay

Gupta*<http://projects.propublica.org/docdollars/top_earners/gupta-sanjay--3>,”

who took $155,943 from *Eli Lilly*, (LLY)*GlaxoKline *(GSK) and*

AstraZeneca *(AZN). No, it’s not*that *Sanjay Gupta, the CNN medical

correspondent who was once floated as a candidate for surgeon general.

Rather, it’s a psychiatrist with the same name who practices in upstate New

York.

But the fact that psychiatry’s Gupta practices with a financial conflict of

interest when he prescribes those companies’ drugs underlines just how many

doctors take money from the companies whose products they’re supposed to be

assessing objectively. As it turns out, CNN’s Gupta, like his New York

namesake, also has a tangled relationship with the pharmaceutical business.

<http://i.bnet.com/blogs/host_meade.jpg>For years Gupta and his CNN

colleage *Robin Meade *have hosted a fluffy health information show on*

AccentHealth* <http://www.accenthealth.com/Health-Systems/About-The-Hosts/>,

a network of closed circuit TVs in doctor and hospital waiting rooms

nationwide, sponsored by drug companies. Gupta has been an AccentHealth host

since 2003.AccentHealth

says<http://i.bnet.com/blogs/accenthealth_release-2008.pdf> its

clients are “primarily pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods

companies.”

AccentHealth does not currently disclose on its web site which companies pay

for Gupta’s programming. However, in previous press releases it has said

that its clients include

“*Aventis<http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing-advertising/marketing-advertising\

/5726885-1.html>

*,

<http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing-advertising/marketing-advertising/5726885-\

1.html>

*Pfizer<http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing-advertising/marketing-advertising/5\

726885-1.html>

*,<http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing-advertising/marketing-advertising/572688\

5-1.html>

* Procter &

Gamble<http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing-advertising/marketing-advertising/57\

26885-1.html>

*,<http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing-advertising/marketing-advertising/572688\

5-1.html>

*

Merck<http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing-advertising/marketing-advertising/572\

6885-1.html>

*,<http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing-advertising/marketing-advertising/572688\

5-1.html>

*

<http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing-advertising/marketing-advertising/5726885-\

1.html>

*and

<http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing-advertising/marketing-advertising/5726885-\

1.html>

*Warner

Lambert<http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing-advertising/marketing-advertising/5\

726885-1.html>

*,” and “*Bristol-Myers

Squibb<http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2002_Oct_3/ai_92425337/>

*, <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2002_Oct_3/ai_92425337/>

*Glaxo

Kline<http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2002_Oct_3/ai_92425337/>

*, … <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2002_Oct_3/ai_92425337/>

*Pharmacia<http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2002_Oct_3/ai_92425337\

/>

*, <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2002_Oct_3/ai_92425337/>

*Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical

<http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2002_Oct_3/ai_92425337/>

*(a unit of

<http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2002_Oct_3/ai_92425337/>

* &

<http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2002_Oct_3/ai_92425337/>

*, and),

<http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2002_Oct_3/ai_92425337/>

*General

Mills<http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2002_Oct_3/ai_92425337/>

*.”

It’s easily one of the strangest and longest running drug sponsorship

relationships in the news business. Some believe it’s a conflict of

interest. When Merck launched *Gardasil*, the HPV vaccine for

girls,Counterpunch

writer *Pam Martens* thought Gupta’s CNN coverage of the controversy was too

soft <http://www.counterpunch.org/martens07202007.html>:

… should Dr. Sanjay Gupta have revealed to his CNN viewers during his

extolling of the virtues of Gardasil that its manufacturer, Merck, was a

financial sponsor of this integrated marketing scheme he co-hosts at

AccentHealth?

CNN defends the

relationship<http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-plank/sanjay-gupta-treads-the-ethical-l\

ine>

by

arguing that Gupta’s show is produced independently from the sponsorship:

A CNN spokesperson e-mailed us this morning to emphasize that AccentHealth

is responsible only for distribution and sales of the program, while CNN

maintains full editorial control of its content.

It sounds like AccentHealth operates along the same lines as CNN itself —

they’re simply broadcasting information, and sponsors can choose to be next

to that. But it’s more the case that AccentHealth only exists because drug

companies pay for its existence and Gupta’s presence.

That makes it the equivalent of advertorial, or a special section for

advertisers. In the print world, such sections are clearly labelled so

readers know that they’re not reading “news.” The sample programming on

AccentHealth’s site doesn’t make that disclosure. Perhaps it should:

AccentHealth’s programming carries the CNN logo on the screen, which might

make some patients believe Gupta is telling them the news when, clearly, he

isn’t.

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[Guest guest]

This has been the root problem all along. Stop allowing Big Pharma to

contribute to media and politicians --Then we might get somewhere!