Subject:  (Guru) Conflict of interest in research......
Date:     Wed, 14 Apr 1999 150051 -0500 (CDT)
From:     "Roy L. Beavers" <rbeavers@llion.org>
To:       emfguru <rbeavers@llion.org>
--------------------------------------------------


.......The following news report tells us of a law suit that has been
filed asking a judge to throw out (as evidence) a research study about
breast cancer in which the researcher had received funds from the industry
that was being studied!!!......

Do you have an idea how much of the EMF research that is presently relied
upon by industry to make the case that "EMF is harmless" ... would be
thrown out if all EMF studies tainted by "industry money" were to be
disallowed on similar grounds?????.......!!!!!

Cheerio.....

Roy Beavers (EMFguru)
rbeavers@llion.org................
...It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness... 
.................PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN PROFITS...............
   
        _________________________________________________________________
   
08:22 AM ET 04/14/99

Implant Finding Called Tainted

 By JESSICA SAUNDERS=
 Associated Press Writer=
           MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) _ Breast implant recipients have asked a
 judge to invalidate an influential report that found no links
 between silicone implants and illnesses, claiming there is a
 conflict of interest involving one of the authors.
           The request filed Tuesday in federal court contends that Dr.
 Peter Tugwell, director of medicine at the University of Ottawa,
 received money from implant manufacturer Bristol-Myers Squibb while
 serving on the panel that drew up the report.
           Attorneys for women with implants asked U.S. District Judge Sam
 Pointer Jr. to invalidate the report released last December and
 disband the four-person panel he appointed to evaluate silicone
 implants and any potential dangers. Pointer oversees 8,600 implant
 cases nationwide.
           The panel's findings, used in courts nationwide, were a major
 blow to women seeking damages for illnesses they claimed were
 caused by defective silicone implants. According to the women's
 attorneys, thousands already have settled or withdrawn their
 lawsuits based on the panel's conclusions.
           ``This was a terrible breakdown of trust. I don't know where the
 women are going to go for answers now,'' said Sybil Niden Goldrich,
 a former implant recipient who founded an organization to provide
 information to women with implants.
           The panel's attorney, John Kobayashi, declined to comment.
           Bristol-Myers' director of public policy, Jane Kramer, said the
 contacts between Tugwell and the company were not significant
 enough to have influenced the panel's findings. She said Tugwell
 made appropriate disclosures of his contacts with the company.
           Attorney Robert Gordon of New York, who represents women with
 implants, said Tugwell never disclosed his receipt of a $750
 honorarium from Bristol-Myers for participating in a company
 seminar in November 1998. He also failed to reveal that he signed a
 letter asking the company for up to $10,000 in August 1997 to fund
 a professional meeting he co-chaired, Gordon said.
           Thousands of women blame implants for such ailments as lupus,
 rheumatoid arthritis, body aches, fatigue, memory loss and
 hardening of the breasts.
           Manufacturers deny their products are dangerous and point to
 studies that found no links between implants and health problems.




Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.feb.se/EMF-L/EMF-L.html