Lancet calls for publisher to cut ties with international arms trade

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Chris Hodge <hodge () sunsite utk edu>
Date: September 12, 2005 11:22:40 AM EDT
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Lancet calls for publisher to cut ties with international  
arms trade



Lancet calls for publisher to cut ties with international arms trade
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/ 
0,3604,1566051,00.html#article_continue

Richard Norton-Taylor
Friday September 9, 2005
The Guardian

Editors of the Lancet, one of the world's foremost medical journals,  
have
demanded that its corporate owner stop promoting the international arms
trade.

The journal's publisher is Reed Elsevier, the multinational behind an  
arms
fair opening in London next week. The company is one of the world's
biggest medical publishers and the owner of Spearhead, which organises
some of the world's biggest arms exhibitions.

Opposition to Reed Elsevier's involvement in the arms trade is voiced in
an editorial and in a letter from doctors and public health  
professionals
in the Lancet published today.

Article continues: "On behalf of our readers and contributors", the
editorial says, "we respectfully ask Reed Elsevier to divest itself  
of all
business interests that threaten human, and especially civilian, health
and well-being".

The editors say they "reject completely any perceived connection between
the journal and the arms trade".

They add: "One would expect the world's leading medical publisher to  
align
its business values with the professional values of the majority of  
those
it serves".

The editorial continues: "Values of harm reduction and science-based
decision-making are the core of public health practice". Military
technologies at the biennial London arms fair were contrary to those
values.

The Lancet refers in particular to cluster bombs which, the Guardian
reported, were on sale at the arms fair two years ago.

The Lancet also says that the arms industry "draws vital investment away
from the health budgets of low-income nations". Last year, 59% of arms
sales were to developing countries, at a total cost of $22bn (about  
12bn).

In a letter to the Lancet, also published today, senior doctors say that
Reed Elsevier's involvement in the arms fair is incompatible with the
Lancet's guiding principles, including the maxim "to do no harm".

Signatories to the letter include Gene Feder, a professor of primary  
care
research and development at London University, and other public health
experts from around the world. They also include the medical charity,
MedAct, and US-based Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Reed Elsevier said in reply to the letter that the defence industry was
"central to the preservation of freedom and national security".

The role of the armed forces now often includes disaster relief work and
humanitarian exercises, it said.



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