“Zombie facts” live on after black plastic and other studies have been corrected or withdrawn

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Titles warning the people To ditch black plastic kitchen utensils, as do social media posts warning of “secret toxins” in your kitchen.

Less prominent? A revision to Peer review study Those titles were based on what happened.

In October, the journal Chemosphere published a study conducted by researchers in the United States and the Netherlands that found brominated fire retardants in black plastic household products sold in the United States, including kitchen utensils.

But there was a mathematical error when the study authors calculated the risks, and they were discounted Order of magnitude.

The authors said they We apologize for the errorbut it “does not affect the overall conclusion of the paper,” because it was part of an example used to compare exposure levels to add context, rather than a primary finding.

“The main thing our study does is provide evidence that when toxic flame retardants are used in electronics, they can make their way In household products “Where it’s not needed or expected,” said Megan Liu of the environmental group Toxic-Free Future in Seattle, who co-wrote the study.

Flame retardants are commonly used in black plastics, such as TV casings, and when those plastics are recycled, the chemicals can make their way into products that come into contact with food.

While media coverage of the study has often focused on what individuals can do, such as getting rid of black plastic spoons, Liu said the ultimate solution is more regulation.

Although it is unfortunate, errors do happen, including in peer-reviewed studies. They can range from a typo or miscalculation that is corrected, to errors so major that the paper is retracted, to the rare but complete fraud. The promise of the scientific process is that by exposing the work to… Scrutinize othersAny problems will be corrected over time.

The problem is that it takes time, and the resulting fixes rarely attract public attention to the original errors, journal editors say.

Tim Caulfield is a book author The illusion of certainty: what you don’t know and why it mattersa professor at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Law and Faculty of Public Health, studies the distortion of facts and information.

“It was interesting, scary, and over-hyped,” Caulfield said of the black plastic study. “The correction happens and the problem is there’s always less uptake of the correction and the original story continues, right? It becomes a zombie reality that won’t die.”

Fraud was allowed to fester

There may be no greater shadow cast by a paper retracted from Andrew Wakefield’s fraudulent and discredited 1998 study of what he claimed was a link between the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism.

The study was finally over It was retracted by The Lancet In 2010, subsequent studies and an investigation by regulators found Wakefield to be “irresponsible and dishonest.”

But that was 12 years after it was published, allowing misinformation to take hold in popular culture.

“It took a very long time for it to be withdrawn,” Caulfield said. “Rollbacks, unless implemented quickly and clearly communicated, can become so political that they become the rollback itself It becomes a badge of honor“.

He said moving quickly to retract was important to maintain public confidence and ensure that the scientific literature was as untainted as possible.

Ivan Oransky, co-founder of Retraction Watch, a website that tracks errors in journals, and who teaches medical journalism at New York University, said Wakefield’s study It took a long time To be undone, “the lie is allowed to fester and is allowed to enrich the public’s thinking. We see that now, of course, With RFK Jr.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who may serve as Secretary of Health under President-elect Donald Trump, Questions, For example, if vaccines cause more harm than good.

“The Wakefield paper may be the biggest fraud, an outright fraudulent paper, ever published,” said Dr. Stephen Schaefer, a Stanford anesthesiologist and clinical pharmacologist who served as editor-in-chief of the medical journal Anesthesia and Analgesia.

Schiffer and other doctors see continued injury and fallout from Wakefield’s decline, including… Measles vaccination rates Which decreased After publication.

Admitting honest mistakes

To be clear, there are no allegations of fraud in the black plastic study, and they have only been corrected, not retracted.

When honest errors occur, Oransky said science must normalize recognition of legitimate errors and support the behavior. “Humility is a very powerful tool.”

Schiffer agrees.

“Honest scientists admit their mistakes, because accurate reports by scientists, and peer-reviewed journals that publish science, are the best solution.” An indispensable condition “Science” means that it is indispensable in this field.

Both Oransky and Caulfield noted the importance Media literacyincluded Critical thinking skillsTo combat the spread of misinformation.

Their suggestions include:

• Remember, science is complex with few “yes” or “no” answers.

• An immediate recommendation, such as starting or stopping doing X based on a single study, is rarely evidence-based.

• Keep in mind that scientists are under pressure to produce research quickly with immediate relevance, which leads to scientific hype.

• Because no study is perfect, the most trustworthy results are supported by multiple studies that stand up to scrutiny over time.

“The more evidence a news article or a TikTok video or a government statement has, the more confidence I have in it, especially if it includes some nuance and some evidence of ‘this is what we don’t know,’” Oransky said.

Despite the challenges, Oransky said he still believes the scientific method is the best way to better understand the world and try to get closer to the truth, whatever it may be.

“I think we have to look long and hard at this process and make it better.”