Subject: Liburdy, SF Chronicle article - 8/10/99 (Kelley)...
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999 184131 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Roy L. Beavers"
To: emfguru
--------------------------------------------------
Hi everybody:
.......Be sure you read the entire article. It appears to me that all
the facts are substantially correct (i.e., as they were reported to us at
the Long Beach meeting).....
Note: that what the "government" (Federal Office of Research Integrity)
is calling a "finding" ... is not in fact ... a "finding" ... so much as
it is "an accusation."....
For the government's "charges" to have become a "finding," one of two
things would have to happen -- that did not happen:
(1) A hearing would have to take place with a resultant "findings of
facts" or "judgment." (Liburdy would have had the right to
counsel, cross examination, to introduce his own evidence, etc.)
....or.......
(2) Liburdy would have had to admit to the so-called "findings" of the
Office of Research Integrity.
Neither of these has occurred. Both the government and the press have
been denying this man his rights under "due process" ... by the manner in
which they have been publicly condemning him by their "misleading" public
statements.....
The big lie ... that's always the best kind..... But one would not expect
that from two such "pillars of the press" as the New York Times and the
San Francisco Chronicle....
Cheerio.....
Roy Beavers (EMFguru)......
rbeavers@llion.org.......
.....It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.....
EMF-L web-site can be found at:
EMF-L archives can be found at:
..................PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN PROFITS..................
..........DO YOU KNOW OF OTHERS WHO SHOULD BE ON THIS LIST??????..........
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999 14:26:00 -0700
From: Libby Kelley
To: rbeavers@llion.org
Subject: SF Chronicle article - 8/10/99
Berkeley Lab Is Asked to Repay
$800,000 Grant
Tanya Schevitz, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 11, 1999
The National Cancer Institute is demanding that
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory repay
more than $800,000 in federal grant money used by
a lab researcher who allegedly falsified data
suggesting electromagnetic fields may cause cancer.
But the lab, which reported the case to the federal
government, is appealing the call for repayment of
the grant used by Robert P. Liburdy in developing
data that he reported in two scientific journals in
1992, said lab spokesman Ron Kolb. The data was
used to advance a research proposal and secure
federal funding.
``The institution was brave enough to question the
validity of some findings,'' Kolb said. ``We took a
stand, and we believe this is a chilling message to
other institutions who are expected to police
themselves.''
The data purported to show the first plausible
biological mechanism linking electromagnetic fields
exposure to cancer and other diseases, including
childhood leukemia.
However, the federal Office of Research Integrity,
an arm of the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, reported that a two- year
investigation of Liburdy found that he committed
``scientific misconduct'' by ``intentionally falsifying
and fabricating'' data and claims of cellular effects
from electric and magnetic fields in two journal
articles.
Liburdy, 51, agreed in May with that office to
retract three data graphs he used to back up his
conclusions in two 1992 journal articles.
The Tiburon resident, who resigned from his
15-year position at the lab in March after officials
there blocked grant proposals for further funding,
also agreed to a three-year ban on receiving federal
funds.
He denies any wrongdoing and has said he agreed
to the sanctions imposed by the Office of Research
Integrity only because he could not afford a lengthy
legal battle. He insists that the overall conclusions of
the articles remain valid and will not be withdrawn.
A letter sent this month by the National Cancer
Institute's grants chief to Lawrence Berkeley lab
officials said the agency wants the lab to repay
$804,321 in grant money that supported research
Liburdy conducted between Jan. 1, 1991 and
March 31, 1994.
``The NCI considers the tampered data to be
central to the project; therefore, charges to the grant
for the tampered data and for all subsequent
research, which was based on that data, did not
further the purpose of the award and are
unallowable,'' the letter said.''
Kolb said lab officials believe that they are being
penalized for investigating and reporting the case.
Lawrence Berkeley lab reviewed Liburdy's findings
after a postdoctoral student working with him
challenged his results in 1994.
In July 1995, the lab concluded that Liburdy had
deliberately falsified data, and the lab alerted the
Office of Research Integrity.
No one from the National Cancer Institute was
available for comment, but according to the letter,
the agency is just following its policy to seek
recovery of funds in such cases.
The letter says the institute reviewed the case and
made the decision July 6 following release of the
investigation results. However, the lab's notification
of the decision on August 3 comes on the heels of a
July 28 letter to the National Cancer Institute from
the House Committee on Commerce.
The July letter, citing a story on the case in The
Chronicle, requested an accounting of efforts to
recover the research funds.
Kolb said the Lawrence Berkeley lab always
planned to return a $360,858 unspent balance from
the $2.39 million granted to Liburdy between 1990
and 1999 by the National Institutes of Health.
The institute is not seeking repayment of grants paid
to Liburdy for research that is not in question.
For the past several years, Liburdy has been
researching the effects of electromagnetic fields on
breast cancer cells and lymphocytes, Kolb said.
©1999 San Francisco Chronicle Page A15
Libby Kelley
Executive Director
Ad Hoc Associaiton of Parties concerned About the FCC's Radiofrequency
Radiation Health and Safety Rules
aka Council on Wireless Technology Impacts
Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com