RightOnCanada.ca

Kathleen Ruff, RightonCanada.ca

Retraction Watch has published a second report (see below) on scientific and ethical misconduct demonstrated in two articles written by a group of scientists with financial ties to asbestos interests. The articles by Edward Ilgren et al. were published by the journal Epidemiology Biostatistics and Public Health, the official journal of the Italian Society of Medical Statistics and Clinical Epidemiology.

Scientists call for retraction of “seriously misleading” paper with asbestos industry ties

 Retraction Watch – Tracking retractions as a window into the scientific process, April 8, 2016

Eleven scientists are asking a journal to consider retracting an asbestos paper with industry ties for including “seriously misleading information,” “several wrong statements,” and thrice citing a journal that doesn’t appear to exist.

Editors of the journal, Epidemiology Biostatistics and Public Health, however, say they will not retract the article, based on the advice of two external reviewers.

Read more here: http://retractionwatch.com/2016/04/08/scientists-call-for-retraction-of-seriously-misleading-paper-with-asbestos-industry-ties/

Retraction Watch asked one of the authors, John Hoskins, to respond to serious criticisms of the two articles.

Hoskins has not responded.

Not only has Hoskins for many years received funding from the asbestos lobby to make presentations promoting use of chrysotile asbestos, he has actually acted as a paid representative of the asbestos lobby – a fact that was not disclosed in the articles  published by Epidemiology Biostatistics and Public Health.

Epidemiology Biostatistics and Public Health has refused requests to retract the two asbestos articles. The joint Editor in Chief of Epidemiology Biostatistics and Public Health, Carlo La Vecchia, also has ties to asbestos interests and has also been criticized for scientific and ethical misconduct in an article, helpful to the asbestos interests with whom he had financial ties, he published in another journal of which he was an Associate Editor.

The mandate of the Italian Society of Medical Statistics and Clinical Epidemiology is to promote public health and and uphold scientific integrity.

It is extremely disappointing to witness how this professional society is betraying this mandate and is allowing its journal to publish scientifically and ethically disreputable articles that serve industry interests and harm public health.