The letters keep rolling into President Bok on the Harvard "whitewash" of the Douglass misrepresentation of his graduate student's thesis on fluoridation and osteosarcoma. Over 70 individual letters so far.
I would like to share with you what I wrote to President Bok this morning:
Dear President Bok,
You and I seem to live in a very cynical age. No one trusts the government, not even agencies which were set up to protect our health, like the FDA and the CDC. That is not healthy. Everything seems to be for sale, including science.
I have studied and taught science for over 40 years, and as I was coming to the end of my career (I retired from a full professorship at St. Lawrence University in May) I came to the very sad conclusion that, as much as I enjoyed the process, I just didn't want to teach science any more. I simply didn't want to teach students the rigorous methods of science only to have them leave the university and have it all ripped up in front of their faces. Science is about the search for "truth". Without truth there is no science. Lots of money perhaps but no science.
So for me this whole Harvard Douglass affair comes down to two basic questions: Is Harvard "science" for sale? Do people outside your university care if Harvard "science" is for sale?
I hope that you will do everything you can to give those of us who do believe that scientific integrity is important just a little hope. That, in particular, you will not disillusion the young in this matter. The best young minds need to be inspired by the highest of ideals. Isn't that why the founders of your university put "veritas" on your shield? Please, please protect that shield President Bok with every muscle and sinue in your body...
Paul Connett
For those who have already written to President Bok, thank you very, very much. For those who haven't and you really do care about scientific integrity please do write.
Most of us seldom achieve our ideals, but it is important that we keep striving for them. If there isn't an "ideal" at the end of the tunnel of struggle then why bother?
When the US Public Health Service endorsed fluoridation in 1950 (for whatever reason) before a single trial had been complete, its leaders lost an ideal. The medical, dental, and public health communities have tried to cover for this ever since. It has led to one lie after another. The latest - and perhaps greatest - lie in this sordid history is that of Professor Chester Douglass. Will Harvard cover this up with another lie?
