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ONE OF THE world’s leading medical journals has retracted a controversial study into the immune benefits of baby formula, some 26 years after it was first published.
The 1989 paper by Canadian scientist Dr Ranjit Chandra claimed that Nestlé Good Start formula could reduce infants’ risk of developing allergies.
The British Medical Journal (BMJ) said it has withdrawn the once widely cited study after obtaining a copy of a damning inquiry into Chandra’s research.
The report – completed by Canada’s Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) in 1995 – concluded that the self-styled “father of nutritional immunology” had committed scientific misconduct.
The investigating committee found that there were “no raw data (or files) of any kind” to support the 1989 study and that it could not “identify anyone who did or remembers a significant amount of the work”.
But the university never published the investigation or notified the editors of journals that had published suspect research implicated in the inquiry.
In August, Chandra lost a $125 million libel case against Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), which aired a three-part series in 2006 that accused him of committing scientific fraud and financial deception.
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The BMJ received a copy of the report when it came into public domain during the course of the lawsuit.
When asked by the BMJ why it had not published details of the investigation, the university said it “was the product of a flawed investigation process and could not be relied upon”.
However, in the CBC documentary, a spokesperson for MUN said the university had failed to act on the investigation because of legal threats from Chandra.
‘Not to be trusted’
Issues surrounding Chandra’s work were identified as early as 2000, when the BMJ rejected a paper he submitted on a patented vitamin supplement that he claimed could improve memory in older people.
BMJ editors questioned Chandra’s ability to conduct the extensive tests described in the study – fears that were supported four years later by independent scientists who found evidence of serious flaws in his data.
In a statement last night, the BMJ said it was retracting the 1989 paper because of “convincing evidence” provided by the MUN report, as well as the CBC series, that Chandra’s work “is not to be trusted”.
The BMJ’s editor-in-chief, Fiona Godlee, and former editor-in-chief, Richard Smith, called for an independent public inquiry into the case, describing it as “a major failure of scientific governance”.
“This 30-year saga highlights a collective failure to defend the integrity of science,” Godlee and Smith said in an editorial.
It is shameful that the university, Canadian authorities and other scientific bodies have taken no action against Chandra and that it has been left to the mass media to expose his fraud.
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@Michael Bodycoach: Disney+ is out next week. Going to give that a go. Light hearted family shows and movies is what I need right now. This forty something is going to watch bedknobs and broomsticks with no shame or guilt. (Just don’t tell anyone)
@Optimus Prime: We get a lot of stuff that they don’t get because they are in competition with the owners there. If they aren’t streaming in Ireland/UK they don’t mind selling stuff to Netflix.
@mammy: it’s not that expensive anyway for what you get. We’d have spent something similar for two or three movies a month in a video shop few years back.
@Daragh Kennedy: @Daragh Kennedy: The basic price on Netflix is €7.99 per month. Ultra HD is €15.99 per month. So, Where are you getting your €1.50 from you muppet. But if you’re giving away a free €1.50, I’ll take it also
@Paulie B: the second tier standard which is the one you have to be on for HD is 12€ and the basic without it is €8. I’m in the second purely because of wanting HD as I don’t use the second screen. Why would I pay extra for a service I’m not getting? It doesn’t matter what the amount is, if you pay for a service you get it and if not then there should be a reduction in price to reflect that.
If quality is down for a month will subscription drop for a month? Like BMW selling you a 3.0lt and telling you they will be swapping the engine out with a 1.0lt for a month.
@Gary Stewart: why should I pay for UHD on Netflix and receive only HD… Yes the price difference is very small but not the principle. Netflix are obviously enjoying the kudos but will probably not pass it on to their customers by way of a reduction in fees.
@MitchConnor: Its not their issue. If you look at the article it is to relieve ISP backhaul pressure. And if you look at netfix IT, stuff like chaos monkey/kong where they can fail entire geographical locations its pretty cool. So id say their infra can handle it.
@Shougeki: As someone from a networking background. I find it a little hard to believe that core networks would struggle with Netflix converging there networks. And if it was the case, the protocol will sense it and load balance it at the various tiers in the network. Also, if the telecoms really wanted they could give priority to IP ranges of hospitals, also most hospital traffic I would imagine is intranet.
@Dave.: By the message it is a combination of netflix plus everyone working from home – vpn, zoom, etc.
But the telcos cores should handle it. If you want a good tech read look into their simian army and the advent of chaos engineering where they build massive failures into their designs.
So they are doing this so people can use the internet from home rather than work. Are they not using the same amount of data when at home vs at work? Fill me in…
@Mal Swan: no is the quick answer. Working from home for a lot, means accessing your company corporate network remotely. This puts traffic over internet that would not normally be there, ad to that kids are off school and you can be sure they are generating massive traffic that would not normally be there for a fair portion of weekdays. Ad to that all of those who’ve lost their jobs to to covid 19 related business closures and are at home also potentially using internet services
Can people please stop complaining if you have to watch TV of a slightly worse quality, the demand of internet usage is huge now that people are working from home and streaming more. Fair play to Netflix, I’m looking forward to watching HD TV again soon.
@Jenny Kelleher: I am complaining I’m paying the same fee with reduced c**p service and I have to work and expose myself and my 82 year old pop to this virus
@Jen Gordon: maybe if the service does turn crap then fair enough. It would be worse if it took longer for shows/movies to load or buffer in HD. This way everyone can enjoy. Well done for continuing to work, lots of us are
@Jenny Kelleher: Actually Netflix will have significantly reduced costs due to this move, they pay bandwidth fees (primarily to amazon web services) in proportion to the amount of bandwidth they use. Its only right to expect them to pass this on to the consumers.
I’m sure you wouldn’t think it right that they profit from covid-19 now would you?
@Mark Walsh: Message from Maserati 3200; I’m dying, I’ve been driven hard, very hard. Too hard. I’m feeling a slight clenchy feeling on number 7, I’ve upped my oil pressure, and I’m getting a bit hot, like very hot, I can’t keep this up, @Terry Tibbs should I carry on or park up? ??
@Terry Tibbs: Highway to heaven is on netflicks. well thats my weekend sorted. I’m also blind so don’t need picture just sound. no Hd needed here seems the eyes stopped showing any definition many years ago.
Daft system really this Netflix. Waste tons of bandwidth sending videos to invidual viewers one by one. Since everyone pretty much watches the same tripe anyway just like back in the day it makes much more sense to send to millions of users at the same time by satellite. Though as usual corporate greed prevents this from happening
@Quiet Goer: that defeats the purpose of it and restricts you to having watch stuff when it’s on. And you’re still streaming it so it still takes up the same bandwidth.
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