Most ethics applications to university faculties of medicine require the submission of several copies of the application for review by a research ethics board (REB). We reviewed the Web sites of each university in Canada that had a faculty of medicine or equivalent. The number of copies required for submission of an application was recorded. If the number of copies required was not indicated on the Web site, we phoned or emailed a contact person to confirm how many copies were required for submission to their institution.
We show in Table 1 the east-to-west gradient across the country with respect to the number of copies of applications required by REBs. This gradient has been demonstrated in other conditions and situations (quality of politicians, access to screech, price of smoked salmon and so forth). We also show the association between the number of copies of ethics submissions required by REBs and the annual cut of trees in each province.
A significant correlation (p = 0.016; Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.75) was found between the number of copies the REB required and the longitude of the location of the faculty of medicine. There was also a significant correlation (p = 0.041; Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.649) between the number of copies the REB required and the annual cut of trees for each province that has a medical school.
These are startling findings that may point to a tacit or not-so-tacit agreement between the forestry industry and REBs. Is it the job of ethics boards to create demand for paper to support the forest industry? These authors would suggest not. Such an association must stop, and we would suggest that any and all communication between REBs and the forest industry cease. The authors hope that by uncovering this startling break of ethical behaviour that they will not suffer any delays or undue rejections by REBs in the future.
References
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