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    When it comes to medicine, mere disclosure of conflict of interest is not nearly enough.

 Patients need unbiased advice when it comes to making decisions that can impact their very life, and physicians and scientists with financial ties to the drug industry should not be allowed to participate in broad policy and public-health recommendations in the first place.

 But this is exactly what happens routinely, as a still-relevant Washington Post article from several years ago pointed out.

 Conflict of interest is rampant in the field of medicine, even when it comes to recommendations from supposedly independent authorities, like the federal government, which makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to trust conventional health advice.

Cholesterol Guidelines a Prime Example of Medical Advice Influenced by Conflict of Interest

 One of the most revealing examples of what happens when policy makers are allowed to accept money from drug companies lies in the current U.S. cholesterol guidelines. In 2004, the U.S. government’s National Cholesterol Education Program panel advised those at risk for heart disease to attempt to reduce their LDL cholesterol to new specific, very low, levels.

 Before 2004, a 130-milligram LDL cholesterol level was considered healthy.