ldoadmin

In 2008, then-Connecticut Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal, criticized the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) guidelines authors for their conflicts-of-interest with vaccines, Lyme test kits and insurance and their failure to disclose these. Since then, their disclosures have been more robust. Apparently, medical journals got that message. Take their disclosure in a recent letter in Lancet by the IDSA gang (link below). Here’s the thing though, most of the conflicts listed involve the IDSA authors testifying against their competitors in medical malpractice testimony and testimony before medical boards. You might recall that when I testified before the IDSA review panel in 2009, the panel seemed shocked when I said that because the IDSA enforced its guidelines, they could hardly be considered voluntary. But if you take a look at the recent disclosures by the IDSA gang, you may wonder that they have time to do anything else, like research, given their aggressive interest in driving out competitive viewpoints. In fact, 6 of the 10 authors of the Lancet letter have testified against competitors. It makes you think these scientists have an anti-competitive ax to grind. It also makes you wonder why Lancet fails to see when scientists have lost the key to the kingdom of science–impartiality.