[Cz-biology] Merck proposal is NOT A GOOD IDEA

Tue Oct 30 21:04:18 CDT 2007

My email on this subject seems to have gotten lost, and I can't seem to send it to some of the mailng lists, so I am sending it again and ask that those of you with acces to all these list servs also send it for me.

Since Merck is a pharmaceutical company that sells medical products, and since it already offers an online version of the Merck manual for free on the Internet, anything they submit should be VERY CAREFULLY reviewed individually on a case by case basis, with the understanding that it can be edited like any other article.

Although the Merck manual has an excellent reputation, the company's reputation (particularly regarding disclosure of risks of Vioxx) is not so stellar.  Please remember, the company's first loyalty MUST BE to their stockholders, not to the general public.

For the last few years I have participated in numerous conferences and discussions at the Institute of Medicine and other venues about how pharmaceutical companies control much of the content in medical journals, continuing medical education courses, and presentations at medical conferences and grand rounds.  It is a terrible idea to have them take over Citzendium too.  

If we want the Citizendium to have any credibility at all, we need to avoid any collaborations like the one proposed by Merck.  That being said, it would be ok to check individual articles and decide on a case-by-case basis whether to use them.

Sincerely,
Diana Zuckerman, Ph.D.
President
National Research Center for Women & Families
1701 K Street, NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20006
(202) 223-4000

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Kevin M. Kelly 
  To: mgrey at mfi.ku.dk ; 'Larry Sanger' 
  Cc: 'Biology Workgroup List' ; cz-health-sci at mail.citizendium.org 
  Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 8:43 PM
  Subject: Re: [Cz-health-sci] [5] Merck proposal

  I agree!

  'We' need to associate the compendium with authorative sources.  Association
  with Merck is a no brainer.

  Now a belated hello.  I am digging out from under my wave of obligations.

  Best regards,

  Kevin

  <--
  www.Toksave.com
  www.KellyWebworks.com
  www.MySignatureFile.com
  --> 
  -----Original Message-----
  From: cz-health-sci-bounces at mail.citizendium.org
  [mailto:cz-health-sci-bounces at mail.citizendium.org] On Behalf Of Michael J
  Grey
  Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 6:41 PM
  To: Larry Sanger
  Cc: 'Biology Workgroup List'; cz-health-sci at mail.citizendium.org
  Subject: Re: [Cz-health-sci] [5] Merck proposal

  Dear All,

  I think this is an excellent idea. I have used the Merck Manual for many
  years. I frequently refer my students to this source.

  Best regards,
  Michael.

  MJ Grey, PhD
  Associate Professor

  Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology & Department of Exercise and
  Sport Science University of Copenhagen, Denmark
  http://www.cph-ncm.ku.dk/mgrey/

  Larry Sanger wrote:
  > All,
  >
  > The following is a proposal we received.  I have some comments after it.
  >
  > ========
  > First, let me applaud your effort to provide a wiki with content from 
  > expert contributors. There is a great deal of information available 
  > free online, though not all of it is reliable.
  >
  > Second, I propose a collaboration between Citizendium and the Merck 
  > Manuals department at Merck & Co., Inc. This department, of which I'm 
  > a staff member (Executive Editor, Electronic Publications), publishes 
  > The Merck Manual, a print and online textbook created by expert
  contributors.
  >
  > We are prepared to place links in your External Links section of 
  > Citizendium topics to related material in our online version of The 
  > Merck Manual. Two
  > examples:
  >
  > Subject: Guillain Barre Syndrome. 
  > Your page: http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Guillain-Barre_syndrome
  > The link in External Links would go to:
  > http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec16/ch223/ch223d.html
  >
  > Subject: Otitis Externa. 
  > Your page: http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Otitis_externa
  > The link in External Links would go to:
  > http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec08/ch088/ch088c.html
  >
  > Unfortunately, we are not in a position to author material for you, 
  > but we'd be delighted to add value to your pages with links to our 
  > material. We invite you to visit The Manual at 
  > http://www.merck.com/mmpe/index.html to determine for yourself whether 
  > links to this content is acceptable and desirable. In a preliminary 
  > review, I found 40 to 50 Citizendium topics to which we could contribute.
  >
  > Please let me know if you are interested in such a collaboration.
  > ========
  >
  > I can say (publicly on this list) that this would be welcome to me.  
  > Merck has an excellent reputation, and it seems unlikely that there 
  > would be anything in their manuals that we should not send users to.
  >
  > More important, perhaps, is that this very small request (it's 
  > basically just a request to add 50 links to CZ) might be the beginning 
  > of a useful collaboration.
  >
  > I'm inclined to say "yes," but I wanted to get your feedback first.
  >
  > --Larry
  >
  > _______________________________________________
  > Cz-health-sci mailing list
  > Cz-health-sci at mail.citizendium.org
  > http://mail.citizendium.org/mailman/listinfo/cz-health-sci
  >   
  _______________________________________________
  Cz-health-sci mailing list
  Cz-health-sci at mail.citizendium.org
  http://mail.citizendium.org/mailman/listinfo/cz-health-sci

  _______________________________________________
  Cz-health-sci mailing list
  Cz-health-sci at mail.citizendium.org
  http://mail.citizendium.org/mailman/listinfo/cz-health-sci

  -- 
  Internal Virus Database is out-of-date.
  Checked by AVG Free Edition. 
  Version: 7.5.488 / Virus Database: 269.13.33/1036 - Release Date: 9/28/2007 3:40 PM

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.citizendium.org/pipermail/cz-biology/attachments/20071030/95c27439/attachment.html 