U.S. Scientists told to alter their findings

Medicine, Science & Technology Forum

Here's an interesting revelation on the front of censorship from above...


U.S. Scientists Say They Are Told to Alter Findings

Yeah pretty soon we'll have to throw all books into a bonfire and run around saying Heil (fill it in) Heil (fill it in).

The pollution alone from these bonfires will not be studied....per censorship from "above."

How the hell can BUSINESS (a NOTION which has become a way of life... Weird...) be more important than the health of the PLANET?

People in power suck...

This is thanks to the glory of capitalism with which Americans seem to be generally smitten.

Unchecked capitalism (another oxymoron...) seems to be an apocalyptic path...

The love of money is the root of all evil.

Any results in which scientists purposely altered and skewed the data because they were told to...well, I blame a lot of it on the scientist.

They are supposed to report the true findings, and they are supposed to have integrity and honesty in their profession.

So much for that I suppose.

But when a sponsor hangs your funding over your head as a scientist and failure to comply means you're out of a job and with prospects for jobs in their field being slim... well I might say they have an understandable dilemma. I don't see it as realistic to expect ANY person, no matter their profession, unless they've got some deathwish and nothing to live for, to put their job before their own life. Everyone I've ever met looks out for number one first. If number one is being threatened, does it not stand to reason that some things may be compromised in defense?

For this reason I don't lay blame on the scientists for behaving as any normal human would. I lay blame on the companies for what is effectively blackmail. I can guarantee they don't approach scientists with, "golly, it sure would be nice if these numbers were lower, we'd send you a greeting card on holidays then."

Now there is another possible, opposing angle to blackmail which is bribes. In the case of bribes, the blame lands squarely on both parties. But for blackmail, it's mutually exclusive. Trouble is that there's a fine line between a bribe and blackmail.

Oh the hippocracy! People never miss an opportunity to bash on capitalism. Of course they overlook the fact that competition from capitalism produces new medicines every day. If you hate capitalism, don't take any medicine developed by private companies. Enjoy your short lives! And before you go, look up what a "straw person" attack is, it's a logical fallacy and it's the strategy you're using.

Whooptie-doo. New medicines are mainly produced FOR PROFIT and RARELY if EVER are there any CURES that are made available. You bring up the very industry that depicts the absolute WORST of capitalism, in my opinion...

Pharmaceutical companies don't bother developing CURES, because once the illness is cured for good, where's the profit? Pharmaceutical companies now flood the TV landscape with commercials urging watchers to "Ask your doctor about" a new drug with TONS of side-effects, just to gain more of the market share. Then you have these drugs being taken off the market years later after new studies reveal that the drugs are dangerous and should never have been allowed on the market in the first place. Why, do you think, are PRESCRIPTION DRUGS being shown on TV in COMMERCIALS, when only DOCTORS are able to prescribe them? Because the pharmaceautical companies know that once people are aware of their drug, they'll TELL their doctors about them and want to try them, because they've become familiar with the drugs from the commercials...

Also, some doctors get kickbacks from the pharmaceutical companies if they prescribe their drug, which causes some doctors to offer up prescriptions that are unecessary and at times DETRIMENTAL to the patient. We're talking about an industry that has too much of the people's TRUST, and they are misusing it terribly.

Something else that's just come to my attention is a new practice that's being called "rent-a-patient". It's apparently crooked surgeons who perform more than the necessary procedure, in order to get more money from the insurance companies, without the patient's knowledge. And you want to say that capitalism is perfect, or shouldn't be knocked in anyway? I was RAISED in a capitalist environment, albeit a little less competitive one than in the U.S. I know that there are benefits to the system, but there are HUGE, GAPING problem areas as well, and the characteristics that it can foster in people (read: GREED) creates a lot more issues.

Obviously, the system isn't perfect. And oh what hippocrites we'd be, living in such a democratic atmosphere where the people are supposed to be the champions of change and correction wherever it's necessary, if we DIDN'T do some bashing when we discover flaws.

Am I suggesting we totally scrap the system? No. Am I suggesting that it might need some tweaking here and there? I probably am. Did jrkiv strike a tender nerve when they mentioned medicines as an example of where capitalism got it right? ABSOLUTELY. Not that I'm angry with jrkiv. Not at all. I'm angry with pharmaceutical companies and unethical people everywhere who turned the system into the gummed-up engine it has become.

Capitalism itself is not the problem. It's capitalism in collusion with government that's the problem.

Sean Kelly, thank you for this article. This is proof that scientists still have government officials breathing down their neck.
A suregon in North Dakota was studying brain cancer for instance and he decided that he would try to work out a cure for brain cancer through medicine, which he did. He tried his new medicine on an Asian-American who suffered from brain cancer.
He was cured but once the Drug and Food Administration discovered him doing this, they threated to throw him out of his practice if he continued to study cancer of any kind.