Not Free Medicine

The recent firings of editors at the Canadian Medical Association Journal illustrate the inherent conflict within the mandate of such professional associations. The CMA is at once a lobbying group, a medical publisher, a consultant for the unions, a provider of financial services, etc. Traditionally these functions are kept separated from each other. This is especially the case with the CMAJ where research on medical science and practices are published independent of the lobbying wing. It provides a crucial service in not only science but also public policies. Now the CMA wants to rein in the journal and refuse to accept its editorial independence. They are trying to turn an academic science journal into a medium of their propaganda. The consequence of this is dire. We will lose an essential source of medical information. Moreover, it will become a propaganda masquerading as science. This is unheard of in the medical journals of the world.