IN September, the Committee on Publication Ethics reported that it had
detected 60 cases of scientific fraud in the past two years. This led the
editors of the British Medical Journal and The Lancet to call
for for a national body with powers to investigate fraud and impose sanctions
along the lines of those in the US and Denmark.
Science minister Lord Sainsbury emphasised to me that government-funded
scientific research 鈥渕ust be concluded ethically and with integrity鈥�. He added
that the Depertment of Health, as a funder of research, looks to the medical
research community and the professional bodies employing researchers to deal
with any misconduct and fraud as they arise. The department is now exploring new
ways of managing the research for which it is responsible. The outcome of this
is expected to be announced later this year.
Sainsbury went on to say that a major problem is that neither government
departments nor research councils directly employ all the researchers they fund.
It is the duty of the employers to ensure that high standards of integrity are
maintained and that they have appropriate procedures in place to deal with any
alleged misconduct. If standards are not met, all research funders can, as a
last resort, withdraw their funding, said the minister.
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I fear that with the emergence of an increasingly competitive edge to
science, the temptations for cutting corners will appear more succulent than
ever before.
THE Nations who have signed up to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification
met in Recife, Brazil, in November so I asked George Foulkes, junior minister
for international development, what he and his experts made of the idea that as
a result of rising levels of greenhouse gases, trees in arid regions are growing
faster than ever. Xiahong Feng of Dartmouth College in New Hampshire has shown
that the rise in global CO2 levels correlates with trees using water
more efficiently
(快猫短视频, 2 October 1999, p 25).
Foulkes said that if Feng鈥檚 thesis is correct, it would give credibility to
the idea of planting more trees in dry areas to stem global warming. The
government, he said, is watching with interest the current debates about the
potential of trees and vegetation to absorb carbon.
One important area is the drawing up of rules for the Clean Development
Mechanism, aimed at promoting investment in emission-reduction activities in
developing countries. This would give them credits which they could sell or
trade against the emission targets of developed countries. The European Union
view, however, is that afforestation and reforestation projects should not be
permitted under the CDM. This is because carbon absorption is very difficult to
verify from such projects. Other factors must be taken into account, including
land tenure and use, benefit sharing and grazing control. Such problems are not
amenable to simple solutions, added Foulkes.
It will be interesting to see what other countries suggest when the results
from Recife are published.
