Aussie psych calls for sunlight

A leading Australian psychiatrist who has received thousands of dollars from drug companies has broken cover, appealing for his colleagues to disclose the payments they routinely receive for industry-sponsored activities.

The medical profession faces a credibility problem of ''unheralded proportions'' because of the money drug companies lavish on influential medical figures, says Philip Mitchell, who heads the school of psychiatry at the University of NSW.

Professor Mitchell has declared he was paid $6500 by three drug companies in 2007-08 for lectures, consultancies and as a company advisory board member, as well as international travel to give an invited lecture.

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