Biederman and Colleagues Finally Get.... a Slap on the Wrist.

From the July 2 Boston Globe (http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/articles/2011/07/02/three_harvard_psychiatrists_are_sanctioned_over_consulting_fees/):

"Concluding a three-year investigation, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School sanctioned renowned child psychiatrist Dr. Joseph Biederman and two colleagues after finding they violated conflict of interest rules...

Joseph Biederman

...They did not specify the nature of the violations. But in 2008, Senator Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, accused the three doctors of accepting millions of dollars in consulting fees from drug makers from 2000 to 2007, and of failing for years to report much of the income to university officials...

...They said the institutions imposed remedial actions, requiring them to refrain from all paid industry-sponsored outside activities for one year, with an additional two-year monitoring period during which they must obtain approval before engaging in paid activities. They were also required to undergo unspecified additional training and suffer 'a delay of consideration for promotion or advancement...’'

...“It’s hard for me to make that judgment, but this all sounds like a little slap on the wrist,’’ said Dr. Jerome Kassirer, a Tufts University School of Medicine professor and outspoken critic of close ties between the drug industry and physicians. He pointed out that Biederman is a full professor at Harvard Medical School, so it’s unclear how a delay in promotion or advancement would affect him. Also, Biederman severed his industry ties soon after Mass. General and Harvard began their separate but coordinated investigations...

...Biederman is the country’s most prominent advocate of diagnosing bipolar disorder in children, even in those under age 6, and using antipsychotic drugs to treat many of them."

Really, in my opionion, these people should be in jail for perpertrating scientific fraud and for launching the trend of inappropriately drugging children who are merely acting out.