Scientific frauds are not nearly rare enough
Source: www.torontosun.com Author: Joanne Richard Seems there’s a whole lot of misconduct going on in the world of science. The latest scandal showed that research linking measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccines with autism is a sham, and it’s not alone. An investigation reports that one in seven scientists know colleagues who fake scientific findings, according the University of Edinburgh, while nearly half know of colleagues who engage in questionable practices. Only 2% of researchers polled own up to unethical misconduct – that number is probably higher, investigators report in the journal PLoS One. An Acadia Institute survey states 50% of faculty and 43% of graduate students have “direct knowledge” of scientific wrongdoing, including fraud, falsification and plagiarism, in their labs. Falsifying findings have put Dr. Andrew Wakefield into the hall of shame. His criticism of the vaccine to fight measles, mumps and rubella literally caused a global health crisis when his studies were reported in the Lancet medical journal in 1998. The journal fully retracted the published claims. A U.K. panel found Wakefield, of London’s Royal Free Hospital, to be “dishonest,” “unethical,” “irresponsible” and “callous.” Investigation by British journalist Brian Deer unearthed the damning evidence of financial and scientific misconduct. Rule breakers rule – everything from data fabrication to falsification, plagiarism to fraud to embezzlement is on the roster of rotten scientific behavior. It’s a high-stakes game where pressure is frenzied to publish positive results. Check out other famous faked scientific results that have left careers in ruins and [...]