The British Medical Journal

Journalists often forget that conflicts of interest may biasthe opinions of their expert sources. Jeanne Lenzer and ShannonBrownlee explain how, in an attempt to disentangle commercialmessages from science, they have compiled a list of nearly 100independent medical experts to whom reporters can turn.

Do you want to Google your genes or peer into your future risks of heart disease or cancer? Now you can, according to direct to consumer testing companies. Gone are the days when genetic testing was limited to doctors ordering tests for rare, but prognostically potent, single gene disorders such as Huntington’s disease, Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy, or cystic fibrosis.

New generation antidepressants aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. That seems to be the central message in the meta-analysis published this week by Irving Kirsch and colleagues in PLoS Medicine,[1] and it was this message that made the headlines.