The Scary Implications of U.S. Government Attacks on Medical Journals

[Nevilledog]

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-scary-implications-of-u-s-government-attacks-on-medical-journals/

No paywall link
https://archive.li/6F2fK

In April, I decided to make public a leaked letter from the acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia to the editor-in-chief of CHEST, a leading pulmonology and critical care journal. I did so because the letter represents an authoritarian threat to science, and I knew it wasn’t an isolated, bizarre incident. It is a warning sign, another move in a broader campaign to exert control over research, medicine and media.

The letter asserts that “publications like CHEST Journal are conceding that they are partisans in various scientific debates.” It was written by recently appointed acting U.S. attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr., who gives no examples that might demonstrate partisanship; nor does he cite any laws or legal principles to indicate a matter that should concern the U.S. government. Instead, without justification or jurisdiction over a private medical journal based in Illinois, he simply invokes his federal office to demand that CHEST explain if it accepts “competing viewpoints,” and how it is now developing “new norms” to adjust its editorial methods in view of its alleged—by Martin—biases.

Since I publicly shared this, at least four additional journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, have confirmed receipt of similar letters, according to MedPage Today, STAT News, the New York Times and Science. Aside from Eric Rubin at the NEJM, none of the targeted editors have been willing to go on record, fearing retribution from the Trump administration. It’s likely that letters were sent to many more journals; CHEST’s was simply the first to leak.

Why CHEST? It’s a specialty outlet—not even among the top 50 medical journals. Is this a keyword-driven campaign like those we’ve seen at the CDC and NIH? Under Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., terms like “diversity,” “minority” and “equity” have been systematically flagged. This has led to elimination of federal positions and programs, cancellation of research grants, and scrubbing of government websites and statistics—all related to these words.

*snip*

[KT2000]

1. The other side-ism

that is considered partisan now includes saving a patient's life, easing pain, having sympathy and empathy, not being solely dedicated to money, not punishing those deemed deserving of it, interviewing and hiring women and minorities, helping those without the money to pay for it, and those who do not exhibit blind obedience.

Every day I think of my father and am glad he did not live to see this.