Friday, March 9, 2007

Reed-Elsevier's arms and health

Richard Smith, the former editor of British Medical Journal, has called
for a boycott of medical authors publishing in Elsevier journals,
because its subsidiary company Reed Exhibitions, which hosts medical
conferences, such as the Lancet Conference, also hosts arms fairs
throughout the world. Reed Elsevier maintains that it is "legal to sell
arms, that the trade is tightly regulated, and that arms are clearly
needed in a dangerous world." Smith maintains that whilst boasting of
the impact the top-rated Lancet has on global health, Reed Elsevier
nevertheless continues to host trade fairs that sell those weapons that
do most harm to civilian populations - the very populations whose health
Lancet is dedicated to improving. Smith accuses Reed Elsevier of using
Lancet as a "moral fig leaf".
Read the free article for yourself at http://www.jrsm.org
Reed-Elsevier's hypocrisy in selling arms and
health.