Cracking down on conflicts of interest

Should an Emory doctor become Surgeon General?
Incredibly, in the midst of all of this, a friend of Nemeroff is being considered! Sanjay Gupta appeared before the very same “conflicts of interest” committee, and his conflicts were supposedly allowed while a faculty member at Emory.
What gives?
The report this week that President-elect Obama is considering Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent, for the position of U.S. surgeon general is deeply troubling.
Among our concerns are these:
As a media figure, he has been disturbingly cozy with Big Pharma. He co-hosts Turner Private Networks’ monthly show “Accent Health,” which airs in doctors’ offices around the country and which serves as a major conduit for targeted ads from the drug companies. Another example: In 2003, despite mounting evidence to the contrary, he publicly downplayed concerns about the dangers of Vioxx. It was removed from the market a year later by its manufacturer, Merck.

We urge you to write to President-elect Obama and express your opposition to Gupta’s possible nomination, and to urge Obama to nominate a more acceptable candidate for this critically important post.
Sincerely yours,
Quentin D. Young, M.D.
National Coordinator