Comments on: Conflicts of interest in veterinary medicine

By: Liz Palika

Liz Palika — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 16:40:15 +0000

As a veterinarian technician, years ago in a galaxy far far away - well no, actually very close - I took the Hill’s nutrition course. I got the course material and certificate of achievement.

Afterwards, knowing no better, I fed my dogs their food.

We won’t go into the results but it did begin my decades long self education into pet foods so I do thank them for that!

By: H. Houlahan

H. Houlahan — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 16:17:26 +0000

Thank you, Dr. Hancock.

I have the Hills textbook that veterinary students get for free (I paid for mine).

I can only imagine the effect on a pack of 20-somethings with no time to educate themselves outside of the system, coupled with lectures from salesmen and a steady stream of bribes.

By: Gina Spadafori

Gina Spadafori — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 15:20:49 +0000

Full disclosure: I WUV Dr. Tony.

By: Dr. Tony Johnson

Dr. Tony Johnson — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 14:51:08 +0000

IVECCS - the emergency and critical care conference requires presenters to disclose any conflicts of interest during a lecture session. I had a nice educational seminar and dinner paid for by a company that makes a hot new heart drug, so I threw that into the talk. I have lectured at lots of conventions and IVECCS is the only one that has imposed this rule.

I do voluntarily declare that same dinner when I have a talk mentioning that drug, but I have never been asked to do so.

ANY info, no matter the source, should be critically evaluated. Believe nothing, question everything.

By: Dale Hancock

Dale Hancock — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 09:19:57 +0000

As a professor in a veterinary college in the USA, I can confirm that serious conflicts of interest exist. Many of our students get free or heavily discounted food from 2 pet food companies during their 4 years of vet school. Each recipient of this largess receives gifts that are cumulatively worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Moreover the faculty of the college has turned over it’s small animal nutrition teaching to persons affiliated with and indirectly paid by a pet food company. Many students and faculty continue to argue that these personal and institutional gifts are meaningless. No doubt any taker of bribes would argue the same: we were going to favor those interests anyway. Yet, meaningless gifts ought to be easy to refuse by people—and Universities—interested in their professional standing. A profession sets its own ethics, and thus one cannot say that such flagrant conflicts of interest are unethical. But one might hope for standards somewhat higher than used car salesmen in the veterinary profession. Pity that expectations are not reality. Where is the AVMA in providing leadership on this matter? On the take, that’s where. Our College was recently reviewed for AVMA accreditation: nothing I saw mentioned on our lack of conflict of interest policies much less our flagrantly extant conflicts. Shame on us.
Dale Hancock, DVM PhD, Washington State University (popmedcurmudgeon@gmail.com).

By: Fiona

Fiona — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 08:49:06 +0000

Here too in Britain the veterinary schools have sold their soles to pet food companies and take funding from them and allow Hills and Royal Canin to teach nutrition to veterinary students. The Vets are betraying pets and pet owners by allowing this to happen and the Vets too should be stopped from selling any pet food and then perhaps they would stop telling us to feed this illness inducing food to pets. The Vets make money from the sale of the food and then from the illness feeding such terrible food eventually creates. It is time the veterinary profession en masse stood up for the animals and stopped taking funding and free pet food. The AVMA is apparently the biggest shareholder in Hills but the last thing they should have shares in is in a pet food or drug company. It is a huge scandal that Government in all countries should put a stop to.

By: Ann Viera

Ann Viera — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:27:25 +0000

The AAMC has recently released a policy for human medicine on industry influence. It is at http://www.aamc.org/newsroom/p.....080619.htm

A long-standing effort on the human medicine side to reduce the influence of industry, especially on residents, is the No Free Lunch campaign headed by Dr. Bob Goodman at Columbia
http://www.nofreelunch.org/. Veterinarians are among the medical personnel participating in No Free Lunch.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:00:14 +0000

Interesting article Christie.

I am a veterinarian who very strongly believes that the veterinary profession needs to find ways to divorce themselves from corporate sponsorships that come “at a cost”. All sponsorships have a cost.

My comment to you and Gina and all at Petconnection is that you need to figure out how to ALWAYS operate NOT needing any sponsorship.

The day you first accepted sponsorship is the day you lost your virginity.

The day you find yourself in need of sponsor $$$ to continue is the day you will have forever lost your independence and ability to look at your readers with certainty and say, “We have only one master — you my reader”.

By: Christie Keith

Christie Keith — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 03:14:42 +0000

Just to make this perfectly clear, I mean if they charge a script fee for scripts filled elsewhere, they have to charge the same fee for their own clients who are getting drugs from them — no actual prescription form needs to be involved.

By: Christie Keith

Christie Keith — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 03:13:37 +0000

They cannot treat prescriptions that are filled elsewhere differently from prescriptions they fill. They can charge a script fee, but if they do, it has to be for ALL scripts, not just those filled elsewhere.