Congressman Calls for Full Investigation of Researcher Fraud in AIDS-Prevention Study
by Bill Fancher and Jenni Parker
December 12, 2003
(AgapePress) - A federally-funded research project that received more than a million dollars from the U.S. government has been tainted by three Maryland researchers who have admitted they made up interviews with young people regarding the impact of the "safe sex" message. Many in Congress are angry about the project, and Arizona Republican Representative J.D. Hayworth wants the matter thoroughly investigated."I would call upon the Administration to utilize the Justice Department because what we have seen here is fraud pure and simple," Hayworth says, "and obviously research has been faked to bring about a desired, predicted, and what some would call 'politically correct' result."
The study, which targeted black inner-city youth, was funded by the National Institutes of Health. Its objective was to evaluate the effect of an enhanced AIDS risk-reduction program for youths ages 12 to 16, called Focus on Kids. This HIV/AIDS prevention curriculum emphasizes safe sex among other approaches, and includes education about the correct use of condoms, values clarification, and sexual decision-making.
Purportedly relying on data from more than 800 black youths in Baltimore housing developments, the study found that youths whose families participated in the program showed "significantly lower rates" for several risk behaviors, including sex without condoms.
However, the admission of three women involved with the research project that they falsified interviews has for some cast suspicion on the study's findings, even though a spokesman for the project says the false data was discovered and removed from the final report.
Hayworth insists that actions such as those committed by the three Maryland researchers should not be allowed to go unpunished, especially considering the project's government funding in excess of $1 million. "This case from the inner city is grave cause for concern," he says, because "we're talking about money that ultimately belongs to the people, the taxpayers."
According to the Arizona congressman, this is not the first time researchers have taken federal funding and fabricated data to further their own ends. Hayworth says he can recall other incidences involving environmentalists who falsified research in order to gain a desired or predetermined outcome.
