Things That Make You Go Hmmm...

I realize that the title of this post may be lost on those who didn't go to high school before the year 2000, but I couldn't think of another one. For I just stumbled onto this post from the On the Whole health blog that sounds a warning about the increasing entanglement with health journalists and pharmaceutical companies.

HealthNewsReview.org publisher Gary Schwitzer has expressed concerns that the drug company Pfizer is funding National Press Foundation fellowships on cancer issues and that the Society of Professional Journalists is orchestrating a tour of Eli Lilly corporate headquarters including a "professional development session on the reporting of mental health issues" and a "networking reception with Lilly's leaders."

Lilly makes the psychiatric drugs Cymbalta, Prozac and Zyprexa. Pfizer's website indicates it makes several medications for treatment of cancer.

Conflict of interest doesn't even begin to cover it. This reminds me of the incestuous relationship between Wall Street and the Fed (*cough* Henry Paulson *cough*).