mynameis
24-10-2008, 07:33 PM
U.S. Army delays, alters medical studies under a
little-known scientific censorship program
Policy 'stifles scientific discourse,' says an Army epidemiologist
Since 2006 U.S. Army censors have scrutinized hundreds of medical studies,
scientific posters, abstracts and Powerpoint presentations authored by doctors and
scientists at Walter Reed and other Army medical research centers—part of a little-
known prepublication review process called "Actionable Medical Information Review."
More than 300 scientific documents have been reviewed by Army censors to date.
Fewer than half of them have been cleared for public disclosure in their original form.
The program is intended to deny Iraqi and Afghan insurgents sensitive data such as
combat injury and death rates. But dozens of studies reviewed under the program did
not involve research directly related to combat operations. Instead, they described
controversial topics like the effects of war on soldiers' children, hospital-acquired
infections, post-deployment adjustment issues, refugees, suicide, alcoholism,
vaccines, cancer among veterans and problems with military health care databases.
An Army epidemiologist has been threatened with disciplinary action for allegedly
violating the policy after sending a letter to Stars & Stripes lamenting the Pentagon's
inadequate resources for tracking and studying diseases—as Congress requires.
more...
http://www.epinews.com/
...
little-known scientific censorship program
Policy 'stifles scientific discourse,' says an Army epidemiologist
Since 2006 U.S. Army censors have scrutinized hundreds of medical studies,
scientific posters, abstracts and Powerpoint presentations authored by doctors and
scientists at Walter Reed and other Army medical research centers—part of a little-
known prepublication review process called "Actionable Medical Information Review."
More than 300 scientific documents have been reviewed by Army censors to date.
Fewer than half of them have been cleared for public disclosure in their original form.
The program is intended to deny Iraqi and Afghan insurgents sensitive data such as
combat injury and death rates. But dozens of studies reviewed under the program did
not involve research directly related to combat operations. Instead, they described
controversial topics like the effects of war on soldiers' children, hospital-acquired
infections, post-deployment adjustment issues, refugees, suicide, alcoholism,
vaccines, cancer among veterans and problems with military health care databases.
An Army epidemiologist has been threatened with disciplinary action for allegedly
violating the policy after sending a letter to Stars & Stripes lamenting the Pentagon's
inadequate resources for tracking and studying diseases—as Congress requires.
more...
http://www.epinews.com/
...