Data Designed to Deceive

The corruption of medical research with ideology

Much of the latest medical research does not deserve our trust. A focus on woke identity politics has corrupted science to a large extent. The term for this kind of corruption is Lysenkoism—the enforcement of deliberately distorted scientific facts on a population for political gain.

Trofim Lysenko was a Soviet agriculturalist promoted by Stalin in the 1920s and 1930s. Lysenko claimed, without evidence, that exposing seeds to humidity and cold would greatly increase crop yields. He also said he could turn one species into another. Unfortunately, his methods were a catastrophic failure, leading to widespread famine and the deaths of tens of millions of people in the Soviet Union and, later, Maoist China. The failures did not deter the totalitarian leaders; anyone disputing Lysenko’s methods was executed or sent to a forced labor camp.

Unlike communist regimes, free nations utilize the scientific method. This highly successful method consists of making a hypothesis and performing experiments to try to confirm or disprove it. The steps involved include collecting observations and data, analyzing the evidence, forming conclusions, explaining the methodology to other scientists, trying to replicate the results in other labs, and formal criticism in the form of debate, discussion and peer review. When all is said and done, the purpose of science is to seek the objective truth.

In contrast, woke ideology is mostly subjective. It seeks to dismantle science and replace it with a political ideology that poses as “The Science.” The main premise of critical race theory is that any disparities between different racial groups are caused by racism. No evidence is needed or desired. The woke have simply redefined racism to mean the presence of disparities. Then, when any disparities are found, the ideology claims that’s proof of racism. How’s that for circular reasoning?

According to Stanley Goldfarb, MD, Board Chair of Do No Harm, many medical journals have announced their intention to focus on the race of people who publish articles or review them. Scientific expertise no longer matters to these journals. The publications also exclude research that doesn’t align with woke political goals, representing a massive intrusion of racial politics into objective science. Since most medical journal editors are woke university professors, they’re often quite willing to corrupt the scientific method in the name of equity, Goldfarb says.

The woke worldview provides many opportunities for scientific corruption and fraud. Medical editors preferentially publish the results of researchers who support woke Marxism. To be considered for publication, research needs to have a predetermined outcome that fits the woke narrative. Research that seeks the truth is rejected, or never receives funding. In addition, researchers may publish reports that falsify or manipulate data, omit unfavorable data, fabricate the analysis, or arrive at conclusions that don’t fit the data. They often fail to mention conflicts of interest or research biases such as participation in political activist groups.

For example, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network found that African American, Hispanic and Asian individuals had lower death rates from COVID-19 than White individuals. Among minorities, only Asians had a higher risk of hospitalization, though not death, compared to Whites. Despite the data, the researchers illogically arrived at this most likely preconceived conclusion: “Public health policies should address socioeconomic and racial disparities to reduce exposure to and fatality from COVID-19 in underrepresented populations.” As for addressing the even higher fatalities found in Whites, the researchers made no mention.

Health equity is the medical Lysenkoism of our time. Critical social equity does not mean fairness. It consists of policies that push the current discrimination of some groups, claiming as an excuse the past discrimination of other groups. No matter the justification, though, all discrimination violates U.S. civil rights laws. Goldfarb says the biggest reason for poor outcomes today is patients seeking healthcare too late in the course of illness. The solution, of course, is to get treatment earlier when it’s more effective. “Anything else will be useless,” he emphasizes. When treatment focuses incorrectly on race instead of early treatment, patients are the ones who will suffer.

It's time to turn this disaster-in-the-making around. Woke university departments, professors, researchers and journals that prioritize political ideology must be defunded. Financial grants should go instead to studies seeking the objective truth about health conditions. As long as Lysenkoism distorts science, you must necessarily analyze studies yourself and avoid accepting research results or “expert opinions” at face value.

View this 11-minute Do No Harm Podcast with Stanley Goldfarb, MD, and Senior Fellow Benita Cotton-Orr titled “Academic Journals and the Infusion of Censorship, Bias and Bad Research.”