Sir

I would like to correct a statement attributed to me in the News story “Code of conduct for bioethics branded 'soft' on corporate ties” (Nature 417, 885–886; 200210.1038/417885a). Your article states that the University of Pennsylvania's centre is the only one to provide information about its funding sources on its website.

On 7 June, the Center for Science in the Public Interest wrote to more than 125 bioethics centres and journals, urging them to develop or strengthen their conflict of interest policies. Our survey indicates that although only one centre — the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Bioethics — provides its policy on external funding and conflicts of interest on its website, several others do publicly disclose information about their funding sources.

Although we believe that bioethics centres, individual bioethicists and journals are doing an extremely poor job of disclosing potentially biasing financial ties, they are not quite as negligent as your article suggests.