AIDS DATA FAKED

CITIZENLINK - December 8, 2003
http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0029191.cfm
AIDS Study Data Faked
by Keith Peters

SUMMARY: Maybe you heard recently about a study that claimed "safe sex" is beneficial for teens and helps to slow the spread of AIDS. Now, there's word that the research was faked.

Three University of Maryland researchers have admitted fabricating interviews for the Focus on Teens HIV risk-prevention program. The researchers admitted they made up interviews with teenagers that they claimed were conducted in 2001. More than $1 million in federal funds was paid for the study, which was designed to find out whether so-called "safe-sex" practices worked on black teens in a Baltimore housing development.

Tom McClusky, director of government affairs at the Family Research Council, was shocked at the news. "Even though the researchers said they had conducted hundreds of interviews of these children, they hadn't interviewed one child and they had basically stolen the grant," McClusky said.

U.S. Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., said the revelation has led him to ask some basic questions "about the accuracy of the research in general, about the information process" - including what the researchers plan to tell Congress and "what penalties there are if you manipulate research that then is used to apply to kids who may be risking their lives?" None of the researchers have been fired.

Souder said he now questions many of the claims being made about the viability of condoms. "They were willing," he said, "to doctor condom research to try to get the results they wanted, to try to juice it up so that it would look more effective and yet they have criticized conservatives for trying to put the light of day on this? It's a little bit backwards."

Souder added that the scandal underscores the need for oversight of all federal programs to ensure that taxpayer dollars aren't misspent and that science isn't manipulated.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: The so-called "safe-sex" approach to stopping disease and pregnancy reflects numerous flawed assumptions and ideas. To explore those myths, we recommend the following resource: "Life on the Edge Video #2: The Myth of Safe Sex," by Dr. James Dobson.

Also, on a Focus on the Family broadcast "Exposing the Safe Sex Myth," Dr. James Dobson discussed "safe-sex" research with a panel of scientists.