The guidelines that now exist are very weak and operate at the margins. They lack monitoring, and, for the most part, they lack teeth.

The essence of our proposal is to build a firewall between drug companies and medical practitioners.

The more lucrative the drug market, the higher the percentage of experts with financial ties - that has to raise serious questions about these panels' objectivity.

Drug companies spend $13,000 per physician annually. Those marketing tactics are very, very effective at getting physicians to do what each drug company wants -- to prescribe their product.

It's one thing if the jeans that you buy have been influenced by gifts that the store buyer received, but it's another if the drugs that the doctor prescribes you have been influenced by a gift.

The data are overwhelming. Gifts, travel grants, consulting contracts, support for continuing medical education and speaking fees affect which drugs doctors prescribe for their patients.