Sunday, August 05, 2007
... Reed Elsevier refused an interview request, but instead issued a
statement to CMAJ saying that 'The company does not regard this as a conflict of
interest, though we respect the right of others, even our own editorial staff,
to disagree. We remain convinced that the defence industry is necessary to the
preservation of freedom and national security ... "
The
July 11, 2007 issue of New Scientist ran a story by child psychologist Partick
Leman, "The Lure of the Conspiracy Theory" (issue no. 2612), that finds, "one
factor fuelling the general growth of conspiracy beliefs is likely to be that
the internet allows new theories to be quickly created, and endlessly debated by
a wider audience than ever."
Leman
equates the Kennedy assassination with fake moon landings, an old propaganda
trick to confuse gullible rubes: "Unfortunately there has been little research
carried out into what kind of events trigger conspiracy theories, who tends to
believe them, and why. We do know, however, that people who believe in one
theory are more likely to believe in others: there is a good chance that someone
who believes the moon landings were faked will also believe that JFK was killed
by a second gunman from the infamous grassy knoll. ... "
Did the military-industrial complex - an arm of which publishes New Scientist -
have nothing to do with the rampant spread of those "conspiracy beliefs?"
New Scientist is above this sort of thing ... but what to make of the magazine's
publisher, Reed Elsevier, which puts out a number of top-shelf science and
medical journals, including Lancet?
The editors of that respected journal haven't exactly been enamored with its
military-industrial publisher:
http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/176/9/1265?etoc
NEWS - The Lancet protests against its publisher's arms fair
business
Barbara Sibbald
CMAJ: The Lancet, long an influential international voice on the adverse health
consequences of war and violence, is again calling on its publisher to sell its
arms fairs. But this time, The Lancet's call is echoed by, among others, the BMJ,
the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, the London School of Hygiene and
Tropical Medicine and an online petition with nearly 1000 signatories.
Reed Elsevier's science and medicine division, Elsevier, publishes 500 handbooks
and journals, including The Lancet, while its subsidiary, Reed Exhibitions,
hosts arms fairs around the world.
The Lancet's Editor-in-Chief Richard Horton says involvement in the arms trade
is ethically incompatible with publishing a journal committed to global health.
It's "unnecessary and extremely disturbing."
"We find ourselves in a situation where our parent company is filling an
absolutely critical part in the arms trade. We're horrified and embarrassed and
we want them to stop," says Horton, adding that The Lancet has had "endless"
conversations with Reed Elsevier about the conflict.
Reed Elsevier refused an interview request, but instead issued a statement to
CMAJ saying that "The company does not regard this as a conflict of interest,
though we respect the right of others, even our own editorial staff, to
disagree. We remain convinced that the defence industry is necessary to the
preservation of freedom and national security and that these exhibitions assist
in ensuring there is a licensed, regulated and open market to serve bona fide
individuals and reputable companies in this sector."
As early as 2005, a Lancet editorial "respectfully" asked "Reed Elsevier to
divest itself of all business interests that threaten human and especially
civilian health and well-being" (2005;66:868).
In March, The Lancet ended an 18-month silence on the issue by publishing and
responding to 6 letters (2007;369:987-90) from, among others, the UK's Royal
College of Physicians and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The Lancet editors responded to these letters by reaffirming their belief that
arms exhibitions "have no legitimate place within the portfolio of a company
whose core business concerns are health and science. This part of Reed
Elsevier's operation should be divested as soon as possible." They also asserted
that a growing number of Elsevier colleagues question Reed Elsevier's continued
involvement in arms fairs.
Figure. In March, 59 of The Lancet's 83 editorial consultants sent a letter to
Reed Elsevier's CEO, Sir Crispin Davis (above), giving him 3 weeks to respond to
a series of questions concerning the company's involvement in arms fairs. Photo
by: Courtesy of Reed Elsevier
On Mar. 23, 59 of The Lancet's 83 editorial consultants sent an Open Letter to
Reed Elsevier's CEO, Sir Crispin Davis, giving him 3 weeks to respond to a
series of questions concerning the company's involvement in arms fairs. That
letter, which is hosted on CMAJ's Web site, was spearheaded by University of
Ottawa law Professor Amir Attaran, a member of CMAJ's editorial writing team.
CMAJ Editor-in-Chief Dr. Paul Hébert says "I believe it is morally indefensible
for a medical journal's owner to be involved in the arms industry in any way."
(See related article on page 1266.) "We urge our international editorial journal
colleagues, particularly those at Elsevier publications, to protest against Reed
Elsevier's involvement in arms fairs."
Renewal of the controversy was, in part, prompted by an editorial in the Journal
of the Royal Society of Medicine (2007;100:114-5) by former BMJ editor Richard
Smith, as well as an online petition, an academic boycott and the decision by
Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust to sell its £2 million stake in Reed Elsevier
in protest.
The online petition, initiated by Tom Stafford, a lecturer in the Psychology
Department at the University of Sheffield in the UK, has more than 1000
signatories (http://idiolect.org.uk/notes/?p=632), while the boycott, led by the
Department of Mathematics at Ghent University in Belgium, has garnered about 70.
The academics vow to stop sending papers to Reed Elsevier journals until the
organization of arms fairs is discontinued (http://cage.ugent.be/~npg/elsevier/).
The BMJ called for a similar boycott in an editorial published on Mar. 17
(2007;334:547-8). It urged the scientific and health community to sign
petitions, and for journal editors to "express their disgust at the company's
arms trade activities." It concluded by asking researchers to "stop submitting
their high profile randomized control trials to Reed Elsevier journals until
links with arms trade are ended."
Horton says, "I strongly oppose a boycott of The Lancet. This will directly
damage the journal and I am sad that professional colleagues might inadvertently
seek to do so. The best course is continued advocacy and dialogue."
Horton stressed that The Lancet operates independently and ethically, within the
Elsevier division.
"It's a fantastic home for The Lancet and we want to stay there. But we and
other publishing colleagues in Elsevier find ourselves in a difficult position
that is incompatible with the values we try to practise every day. It's
unacceptable. We need them to go the whole way and get rid of their arms
business."
Elsevier Science and Medicine is Reed Elsevier's most profitable arm with 2005
sales of $1.4 billion, 37% of the company's total profits.
---------------
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article2455113.ece
Reed Elsevier AGM faces arms protest
By Saeed Shah
Published: 17 April 2007
New allegations on Reed Elsevier's links to the most controversial parts of the
arms trade have emerged, as peace protesters descend today on the AGM in London
of the conference and publishing company.
According to a protest group, an arms fair organised by Reed in February in the
United Arab Emirates invited the defence minister of Sudan, a regime that has
been condemned by the US for sponsoring the "genocide" in Darfur.
The Campaign Against the Arms Trade also found that land mines and cluster bombs
were on sale at the event. These revelations will increase pressure on Reed to
cut its links to the arms industry. Reed organises trade shows for defence
companies around the world, including a biennial arms fair in London.
Reed was condemned in 2005 by one of its own publications, the medical journal
The Lancet, for dealing with arms manufacturers. It specifically deplored the
marketing of cluster munitions, which it called "the worst kind of weapon".
CAAT found that anti-personnel landmines were being sold by a South Korean
company, Hanwha Corporation, at the Idex fair in Abu Dhabi. The company's M18A1
claymore mines, which were being promoted, are described as "directional fixed
fragmentation mines ... for defence of bivouac areas ... and against
infiltration tactics". Many countries including the UK have signed the Ottawa
Convention against the use of landmines.
According to CAAT, a Russian business at the Idex event, Bazalt SRPE FSUE, was
selling cluster bombs. The exhibition catalogue said: "FSUE SRPE Bazalt is the
principal organisation in Russia which designs, develops and produces ammunition
for Air Force (unguided air bombs including cluster bomb units)..."
A Reed spokesman said the Sudanese Defence Minister, Abdel Rahim Mohammed
Hussein, was invited by the government of the UAE, but was unable to confirm
whether he attended. He said Reed's policy was that cluster munitions could not
be marketed at its arms fairs but conceded that there was an "incident" of this
happening at Idex 2007. "Wherever Reed operates, we comply with the
[international] regulations," he said.
------------------
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2093273,00.html
Reed Elsevier pulls out of organising arms fairs
Katie Allen
Friday June 1, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
An anti-aircraft missile system is displayed by British soldiers at a DSEi arms
fair. Photograph: Dan Chung
Anti-arms trade campaigners and writers at Reed Elsevier's scientific journals
today welcomed the publisher's move to pull out from organising defence shows.
Reed said earlier it would sever its ties to arms fairs, bowing to pressure
which included complaints from customers, shareholders and academics writing for
its major titles.
The owner of trade and specialist publications such as Farmers Weekly and New
Scientist had faced a multi-year campaign over its involvement in five defence
shows, including one in London.
It now plans to pull out of the industry by the end of this year.
"Our defence shows are quality businesses which have performed well in recent
years," said chief executive Sir Crispin Davis.
"Nonetheless, it has become increasingly clear that growing numbers of important
customers and authors have very real concerns about our involvement in the
defence exhibitions business.
"We have listened closely to these concerns and this has led us to conclude that
the defence shows are no longer compatible with Reed Elsevier's position as a
leading publisher of scientific, medical, legal and business content."
The Campaign Against Arms Trade, which has been organising weekly vigils outside
Reed's London headquarters, said the move put an end to the incompatibility of
Reed's involvement in the arms trade and its position as the number one
publisher of medical and science journals.
"The decision shows that the arms trade is an abhorrent activity and that it has
no place within a reputable business," it said in a statement.
Reed had drawn particular criticism over its defence links from its flagship
title The Lancet. The medical journal's staff struggled to reconcile ties to the
arms trade with a publication often covering the impact of war.
Editors of the 184-year-old journal had publicly voiced concerns about damage to
its reputation and faced difficulty recruiting academic contributors who
objected to Reed's involvement in arms fairs. The Lancet issued a statement
today saying: "The decision by Reed Elsevier to withdraw from military
exhibitions will help us to build strong partnerships, which are so essential to
our future."
A host of internationally renowned writers including J.M. Coetzee, Ian McEwan
and Arabella Weir, joined the campaign last year, in a public letter to coincide
with the Reed-organised London Book Fair.
The authors said they were appalled their trade should be "commercially
connected to one which exacerbates insecurity and repression" and they singled
out the London fair.
"Military buyers were invited from some of the world's most violent and
repressive regimes," they wrote. "At DSEi more than one company was found openly
(and illegally) advertising torture equipment."
Earlier this year, the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust sold its £2m stake in
Reed because of concerns the publishing firm was stepping up its involvement in
arms fairs despite the charity's three-year campaign to make Reed break ties to
the trade.
Describing the trade as "deeply unethical and irredeemably corrupt", the trust
slammed the arms fairs organised by Reed subsidiaries, which include Defence
Systems and Equipment International (DSEi), held every two years in London and
organised in association with the UK Ministry of Defence.
FTSE 100-listed Reed said today that defence shows accounted for less than 1% of
group annual turnover. It said plans to pull out of the sector by the end of the
year were subject to honouring its obligations to partners and customers and
that September's DSEi fair at London's Excel centre would go ahead as planned.
After 2007 the shows will not cease altogether. Reed will sell them on.
Reed had previously maintained it viewed the defence industry as "necessary to
the preservation of freedom and national security" and that its exhibitions
assisted in ensuring there is a licensed, regulated and open market.
--------------
http://www.hoovers.com/reed-elsevier-nv-/--ID__91604--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml?cm_ven=PAID&cm_cat=BUS&cm_pla=CO1&cm_ite=Reed_Elsevier_NV
Chairman
Jan H. M. Hommen
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CEO
Sir Crispin Davis
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Jan H.M. Hommen
(1943, Dutch nationality)
Jan Hommen was appointed to the Supervisory Board of ING Group per 1 June 2005.
Until 1 May 2005 he was vice-chairman and CFO of the Board of Management of
Royal Philips Electronics. From 1975 to 1997 he worked for the Aluminium Company
of America (Alcoa), from 1978 at Alcoa's head office in the United States,
becoming CFO in 1991.
Mr. Hommen is chairman of the Audit Committee.
Other directorships of listed companies:
Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Reed Elsevier.
Chairman of the Supervisory Board of TNT N.V.
Other significant positions:
Chairman of the Supervisory Board Academisch Ziekenhuis of Maastricht (hospital)
Chairman of the Supervisory Board of TiasNimbas Business School
Chairman of the Board of Directors of Campina B.V.
http://www.ing.com/group/showdoc.jsp?docid=110004_EN&menopt=cog%7Csub%7Csbm