The Trump administration released a report billed as a “clear, evidence-based foundation” for action on a range of children’s health issues. But the report, from the presidential “Make America Healthy Again Commission”, cited studies that did not exist, as reported by the NEW YORK TIMES and several further publications. These included fictitious studies on direct-to-consumer drug advertising, mental illness and medications prescribed for children with asthma.
“It makes me concerned about the rigor of the report, if these really basic citation practices aren’t being followed,” said Katherine Keyes, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University who was listed as the author of a paper on mental health and substance use among adolescents. Dr. Keyes has not written any paper by the title the report cited, nor does one seem to exist by any author.
Dr. Ivan Oransky, co-founder of Retraction Watch, said the errors in the report were characteristic of the use of generative artificial intelligence. He said that, while he did not know whether the government had used A.I. in producing the report or the citations, “we’ve seen this particular movie before, and it’s unfortunately much more common in scientific literature than people would like or than really it should be.”
Asked at a news conference on Thursday whether the report had relied on A.I., the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, deferred to the Department of Health and Human Services. Emily Hilliard, a spokeswoman for the department, did not answer a question about the source of the fabricated references and downplayed them as “minor citation and formatting errors.” She said that “the substance of the MAHA report remains the same — a historic and transformative assessment by the federal government to understand the chronic-disease epidemic afflicting our nation’s children.”
Researchers previously told The Times that they agreed with many of the report’s points, like its criticism of synthetic chemicals in the U.S. food supply and of the prevalence of ultraprocessed foods. But doctors have disagreed with some of the report’s other suggestions, including that routine childhood vaccines may be harmful. this notion is clearly not evidence-based and relies on an incorrect understanding of immunology.
The report also originally cited a paper on direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs published in The Lancet in 2005. A paper with that title does exist, but it was a perspective piece from an expert, not a study. It was published in a different journal five years earlier, and was not written by the cited author.
The report also pointed to what it said was a 2009 paper in The Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology by “Findling, R.L., et al.,” on the advertising of psychiatric medications. A spokesman for Virginia Commonwealth University, where Dr. Robert L. Findling works as a professor of psychiatry, said Dr. Findling had not written the article.
Furthermore some correctly cited papers were inaccurately summarized. For example, the report said that the fifth edition of a guide used by psychiatrists to classify mental health conditions had loosened criteria for A.D.H.D. and bipolar disorder, driving a 40-fold increase in diagnoses in children from 1994 to 2003. But that edition was not published until 2013. The diagnoses mentioned in the cited study would have been made using an earlier version. In addition, the data appeared to originate from a 2007 study that refers to an approximately 40-fold increase in the diagnosis of bipolar disorder among youth from 1994 to 2003, but does not mention increases in A.D.H.D. prevalence.
Having followed what is going on in the White House in relation to academia and science (e.g. here, here and here), one can hardly be surprised about any of that. There seems to be misconduct everywhere – so why not also scientific misconduct?
Let me answer this one myself:
Because it is dangerous and undermines trust!
Let me therefore offer some practical, constructive advice as to how to deal with the problem of scientific misconduct [I can assure you that I have ample experience with that!]:
- Dismiss the individuals who are directly responsible.
- Get everyone off their drugs.
- Send everyone, including the top echelon, to intensive courses about science and ethics (possibly at Harvard).
- Make sure that everyone has understood the material.
- Recruit several outstanding scientists with a proven track record of publishing in top journals to lead the team.
- Re-do the report.
- Make sure it gets independently peer-reviewed before putting it in the public domaine.
From what I hear, these measures might not be popular – with Trump railing against Harvard and Kennedy against top journals – but, believe me, drastic measures are necessary to get on top of the mess that seems to dominate (not just) the science in the White House.
7 Responses to Scientific misconduct from the White House + some free advice how to deal with it!
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
“Send everyone, including the top echelon, to intensive courses about science and ethics (possibly at Harvard).”
That would be the same Harvard that (before they farmed it out) used to offer ‘Structural Acupuncture for Physicians’ for a mere $6,500.00 a course, right? The same Harvard that gave us your top competitor, Dr. Andrew Weil, plus America’s medical savior, Dr. Oz, and Dr. Bruce, who (less famously) said homosexuals are from right-brained men having children with left-brained women, after he’d been taking acid for 15 years straight, of course? The same institution, correct?
Professor Ernst, when it comes to American politics, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:
Like Hitler invading Russia, you don’t appreciate the size of the problem.
Like, right now, Jake Tapper – CNN’s “top reporter” – is promoting his new book on the cover-up of Joe Biden’s mental decline by the rich and powerful on the left. What’s wrong with that? For years, the nation watched the left’s rich and powerful Jake Tapper attack anyone who mentioned Joe Biden’s decline as – I shit you not – hating kids who stutter.
https://youtu.be/ziivsd-P0qs?si=IMMMkwDTzQbr9X5o
What I’m saying is, only the most sinister imagery from “Alice In Wonderland” applies here. Andrew Wakefield may be a disgraced doctor in the UK, but he’s Elle Macpherson’s ex-boyfriend in America. And Donald Trump would admire that.
You’ll catch on, eventually
Guess you didn’t get the joke.
This is a serious issue. Misinformation from authoritative sources can be incredibly damaging. One under-discussed area is the lack of attention to environmental factors that affect health, like EMF exposure. There’s some interesting content on that here: https://emfclothing.com — curious to hear your thoughts on whether you think EMF-related risks are taken seriously enough in mainstream health policy.
@Freeone
What EMF-related risks are you talking about? To the best of my knowledge (and this is an area of expertise of mine) there are no EMF-related risks in everyday life. As in: no, smartphones, Wi-Fi and 5G do not pose any risk at all.
The Web site that you link to is selling completely useless products, and the ‘experts’ offering surveys are liars and frauds. They will charge hundreds or even thousands of pounds, and ALWAYS find (completely nonexistent) ‘EMF hazards’ – which then of course require the purchase of said useless products to avert.
That Web site is in fact spreading harmful misinformation, scaring people about completely harmless things.
Not just that webshite.
Google search string I tried: protection from wifi radiation
Snippets of the result AI Overview:
To protect yourself from potential WiFi radiation exposure, consider using shielding products like Faraday cages or conductive fabric covers for your router and devices.
EMF Shielding Bed Canopies:
These canopies can provide a wider area of protection from EMF radiation from various sources, including WiFi routers.
EMF Shielding Clothing:
Some companies offer clothing with built-in shielding to protect against EMF radiation.
Consider using wired connections:
If possible, using wired connections for your devices can eliminate the need for WiFi radiation.
Be mindful of your surroundings:
Consider the presence of WiFi routers and other devices in your environment and take steps to minimize exposure.
Be aware of your body’s response:
If you experience symptoms like headaches, fatigue, or sleep disturbances, consider reducing your exposure to WiFi radiation.
no shit Sherlock (Freeone)
Have you read the legacy media in the past few years ?
QUOTE Barrie Trower, RationalWiki
“Here they are targeting you probably with a beam and it is on you all day, it can follow you everywhere you go and it can target you when you’re asleep as well. So you’re really getting a concentrated dose. It’s a bit like putting the light on in your house and sitting with the light or have somebody follow you with a search light and beaming the search light on you all the time.”
— Barrie Trower spreads fear and paranoia about WiFi[𝟏]
Barrie Trower is a pseudoscientist, conspiracy theorist, and crank who believes that microwaves and related technologies are a major threat to public health. He is frequently cited by other conspiracy theorists and cranks, especially the paranoid crowd that believes that electromagnetic radiation is part of various nefarious plots against humanity.
Trower allegedly trained in the British “Government Microwave Warfare Establishment” in the 1960s and worked with the underwater bomb disposal unit. He hasn’t given any concrete evidence to support his apparent training and work. He also claims that after this he “went on to teach advanced physics and mathematics at South Dartmoor College”, which in practice means he was a high school teacher, as South Dartmoor College is a secondary school in Ashburton, Devon, England. Perhaps he wants you to think it’s a research university.
…
[𝟏] The Danger of Microwave Technology. naturalscience.org, April 2015.
END OF QUOTE
My advice: protect your nuts
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_feeder#/media/File%3ABlue_jay_(Cyanocitta_cristata)_on_bird_feeder.jpg