BOSTON, Dec. 27 -- The New England Journal of Medicine allowed a chemical company official to write an unfavorable review of a book that claims chemicals in the environment are responsible for an epidemic of cancers.
The journal, which has been criticized since the review was published last month, apologized for not informing readers that the author is medical director of W.R. Grace & Co., which has been accused of polluting the environment.
"We should have recognized that W.R. Grace was a conflict of interest, but unfortunately the person who handled it didn't recognize that," the journal's editor in chief, Jerome P. Kassirer, said in today's editions of the Boston Globe.
Kassirer said the journal, which has had similar problems in the past, will print an explanation of its gaffe within four weeks.
"Our conflict-of-interest policy is pretty tight, the tightest in the business," he said. "It was a simple oversight."
In 1989, an article in the journal played down the dangers of exposure to asbestos but did not inform readers that the author had ties to the asbestos industry. After that, the journal changed its policy to refuse reviews or editorials whose authors were connected to firms with a financial interest in the topic.
But last year, the journal ran an editorial claiming the benefits of diet drugs outweigh the risks. It failed to note that the authors were paid consultants for companies that made or marketed one of those drugs, Redux, which the Food and Drug Administration recently declared unsafe and ordered removed from sale.
The author of last month's book review, Jerry H. Berke, said he had signed a conflict-of-interest statement spelling out his affiliation with W.R. Grace. Berke said that his first drafts of the review mentioned his connection to Grace, but that he decided "at the very last minute" to identify himself as independent.
"The folks at Grace wanted to make certain that I was writing my own opinion," he said. "I wasn't trying to be cute or duplicitous or anything."
In the book and upcoming movie "A Civil Action," Grace is blamed for polluting the drinking water in a Boston suburb, sickening several children.
"It's laughable that Berke would think that he could write an objective review of the book given that he was an employee of W.R. Grace," Kassirer said.
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