The Council for Evidence-based Psychiatry today issues a declaration of support for our colleague, Professor Peter C. Gøtzsche – co-founder of the Cochrane Collaboration, Director of the Nordic Cochrane Centre, Professor of Clinical Research at the University of Copenhagen, and member of CEP.
Prof Peter C. Gøtzsche is known throughout the medical world as a tireless advocate for research excellence, a fearless critic of scientific misconduct, and a powerful opponent of the corruption of research by industry interests. His meticulous integrity in demanding the highest standards from his colleagues has won him the admiration of patients, researchers, doctors, campaigners and advocacy groups worldwide.
We believe it is deeply regrettable that members of the Governing Board should have voted (by a majority of only 6 to 5) to expel Peter, especially since no objective evidence has been provided to support the decision they have made. We further note that four of the dissenting members have since resigned to show support for Peter’s position.
For an account of the Cochrane affair, please see the following article published in Science yesterday:
See also Professor Gøtzsche’s public response to the six board members:
The BMJ has defended its decision to publish Peter’s critique of the Cochrane’s HPV vaccine review in this article:
https://www.bmj.com/content/362/bmj.k3927
The International Society of Drug Bulletins has also issued its support in the BMJ:
Professor Gotzsche’s courage, expertise, scientific integrity and absolute commitment to exposing flawed scientific method in clinical trials is fundamental to patient safety.
Thank you Dr. Gotzsche.
The expulsion of Prof. Goetzsche from the Cochrane Board under the guise of “disrepute” is spurious and confirms the creeping interference of the pharma industry into the affairs of what has to be and has been hitherto an independent respected scientific body. This is a blow for evidence-based medical science, an attempt to eliminate healthy critique and stunt the freedom to operate unbiased. To restore the now eroded independence, Cochrane sponsors should now threaten to withdraw support unless the current Board are relieved from their duties and new elections take place. To guard against future interference, Prof. Goetzsche should be elected as CEO, and he should ensure the new board is made up of unassailable scientists and NOT pharma businessmen.
I think it’s a truly disgraceful decision and one that needs to be made more public it is a blow to all of us that have been harmed by medication it is clear that mr gotzsche has been removed from his post because he speaks the truth about harms and the education to the facts of what certain medication can do to people but his opinion is obviously not what they want to hear , I believed that the Cochran’s collobaration was set up to protect people from harm and wrong doing and to ensure trials and information was right and valid and safe in the public interest but apparently not if you speak out again this smells like big pharma flexing its money
Thank you Professor Peter Gotzsche: for your courage, absolute integrity and for identifying the manipulation and academic malfeasance which has deceived prescribers and patients regarding the safety of prescription medication.
I would love to see this debacle thoroughly examined in a mainstream media setting. However, I won’t hold my breath. I’ve forwarded this news story to channel 4 news I wonder if their Editor in chief will be brave enough to take it on. Again, won’t hold my breath.
Peter, you will have the support of the international scientific community when they understand what happened
I watched a dear family member transformed before my eyes under the influence of anti-depressant drugs ill-administered by GPs. I was desperate to understand and fortunately someone referred me to Peter Gotzsche’s Book Deadly Medicines, and I followed it up with articles and chapters wherever I could find. He was my rock, for his honest and moral exposure of the drug-companies hand in glove with psychiatry, creating our crisis in mental health. Now the Mafia tactics they use are blatantly at work against this very brave whistle-blower. The evil drug-pushing of these fake medics will not succeed – moral outrage cannot allow it.
Peter Gotzsche is what we would like real doctors to be – a man who is not afraid to
speak the truth. I heard him speak and his compassion for all those like myself who
have received iatrogenic harm was so good to feel and witness. It is not easy to be a
doctor and realize the deceitful influence the pharmaceutical has on his profession. I
and many other people worldwide admire him so much. Thank you so much, Peter!
Peter Gotzsche, a man of integrity, honesty and heart. Unfortunately a rare thing in the
medical scientific community of today’s world. Truth and transparency are the victims
of the greed, avarice and malfeasance of the pharmaceutical industry.
Thank you Peter for your help and support, it gave me the strength to carry on
Can Cochrane now be trusted
After their treatment of Peter Gøtzsche and the reasons for his dismissal can Cochrane (formerly Cochrane Collaboration) now be trusted to give information that is genuinely independent of industry and commerce interests.
Surely, Cochrane’s reputation and track record have been ruined been lost.
Will it now be called ‘Cochrane sans collaboration’ or ‘Cochrane avec le colla
Can Cochrane now be trusted
After their treatment of Peter Gøtzsche and the reasons for his dismissal can Cochrane (formerly Cochrane Collaboration) now be trusted to give information that is genuinely independent of industry and commerce interests.
Surely, Cochrane’s reputation and track record have been ruined been lost.
Will it now be called ‘Cochrane sans collaboration’?
Cochrane is destroyed.The question becomes, what next? If it had had competition, it would not have been so easy for the Gates to destroy it. So whether it can rise from the dead is an interesting question, but even if that were possible, it would still need a competitor, even if for the simple necessity of scientific replication of results to give better confidence is what is discovered.
Perhaps PLoS? Perhaps something new with the honest people who had to leave Cochrane? BioMed Central? A new organization devoted to lay language summaries of aggregated data?
I would trust something constructed by Stephanie Seneff and Anthony Samsel. Perhaps conventional people would not, but that is fine with me. They can pretend Cochrane is not dead and go with science fiction of not the good kind.
Just by way of balance, it was comforting to read in The Times (UK) newspaper of 25.9.18 that Prof. David Baldwin of the Royal College of Psychiatry had been “driven to resign” from the current Public Health England Review into drugs that cause dependence and withdrawal. In actual fact this was due to his innumerable links to Pharma companies which were screened out in prospective reviewers to avoid bias. However, the newspaper tried to drum up sympathy for Baldwin stating that he had been the recipient of abuse from bloggers, likening him to Hitler. The Pharma Mafiosi and their supporters will corrupt and distort the truth in any way they can – definite psychopaths the lot of them, and doubtless in conformity with the DSM manual they constructed for their labelling of patients.
Many years ago already, some people had alerted the public about the fact that Cochrane isn’t independent and free of vested interests and, instead, has a big corporate interest bias —eg, in the book ‘The Mammogram Myth’ of 2013.
However, that sort of knowledge and the type of individuals who were purveying that knowledge had been mostly ignored or dismissed as disseminating bogus claims or “insanities” against the unblemished authoritative reputation Cochrane has been enjoying for years in the public’s mind.
This event is an indication of the much bigger reality that’s been brewing: the corrupt corporate establishment’s cracking down, censoring, and marginalizing dissidents — it’s going on in every area of science showing the totalitarian corporate world we live in now.
This diabolical global plan to silence accredited, professional scientists & whistleblowers exposing the truth is an injustice for ALL of humanity. For many of us psychiatric drug survivors, especially for me, Peter Gotzsche was our voice after being silenced by our very own Psychiatrists & Doctors who poly-drugged us to death then refusing treatment when we decided to come off them leaving us to suffer or die in our own homes.
I have the utmost respect & love for Peter Gotzsche and his lifetime dedication to his work and find this attack on him abhorrent. But this is what ‘they’ want. Silence & obedience by the masses. It’s truly horrifying watching what’s taking place on this Earth today. They just don’t seem happy until they have every one their new world order agenda’s fulfilled, at the cost of humanity.
So obvious to all i know that Peter Gotzsche was removed because he speaks the truth. The fact that he was voted out proves that and that he clearly threatens the mass lie from being exposed. We support you Peter Gotszche thank you for being the brave one that the world needs so desperately. Thank you for standing up for the truth. Thank you a billion times.
It is a sign for not having honesty and integrity as a main goal in science, that this happened. He speaks the truth and opponents as Jim van Os show they are not open for this.
They secretly have bonds with the pharmaceutical industry and their only goal is impactfactor and power. Also ehealth and big data are big earnings for them.