I’ve been reading the various reports about the Harvard/Biederman story. There’s a common jouralistic device in the reporting:
Harvard University’s medical school and Massachusetts General Hospital have punished three professors – including Joseph Biederman, an influential child psychiatrist – for conflicts of interest, The Boston Globe reported. Biederman and the others sanctioned – Thomas Spencer and Timothy Wilens – revealed the action in a letter to colleagues. The Harvard investigation was prompted by a Senate probe that questioned whether Biederman and others were reporting consulting fees they received from pharmaceutical companies at a time they were publishing articles about the use of various drugs. The letter from the three professors said that they had made "honest" mistakes but that they “now recognize that we should have devoted more time and attention to the detailed requirements of these policies and to their underlying objectives.
"honest" mistakes and "… we should have devoted more time and attention to the detailed requirements" are examples. The journalistic device is to put quotes to indicate that the quoted piece is malarkey. It needs to be said explicitly. What Biederman and friends did was certainly not honest, nor was it a mistake, and none of us believe that it was because they weren’t paying attention to details. It was deliberate, conscious corruption for personal gain. We don’t need to use quotation marks to simply imply what is as plain as the noses on our faces. We need to shout it from the rooftops.
Did you notice that Bieberman just got tossed off Australia’s committee for new ADHD guidelines — I believe he was chairman. This too is interesting, written, note, by a prominent American jornalist
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/07/20117313948379987.html