" Several of the researchers are associated with public security authorities in China, a fact that “voids any notion of free informed consent”, said Yves Moreau, a professor of engineering at the University of Leuven, in Belgium, who focuses on DNA analysis. Moreau first raised concerns about the papers with Hart, MGGM’s editor-in-chief, in March 2021.
One retracted paper studies the DNA of Tibetans in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, using blood samples collected from 120 individuals. The article stated that “all individuals provided written informed consent” and that work was approved by the Fudan University ethics committee.
But the retraction notice published on Monday stated that an ethical review “uncovered inconsistencies between the consent documentation and the research reported; the documentation was not sufficiently detailed to resolve the concerns raised”. "
Weird. So they had written consent forms for the blood samples, but the forms weren’t detailed enough(?), and anyway you can’t trust anyone associated with the Chinese gvmt? Is that what they’re saying?
This seems like weird reactionary virtue signalling.
@HorseRabbit I think “inconsistencies between the consent documentation and the research reported” could be anything from
- fewer consent forms than participants
- age and sex of consent form signatures don’t match participant cohort
- consent forms do not consent to an aspect of the research process
- consent forms from clearly illiterate subjects or indicate in some other way that subjects do not understand the nature of the research, and methodology does not deal with this.
Take for example that retracted study where the authors basically state that their research on Uighur DNA “might be useful for the police”..
If you said that about, say, African-Americans in a ghetto I think most people would be suspicious of the level of informed consent given and want to look into it.
I’ll also point out “the forms weren’t detailed enough to resolve the concerns raised” directly implies that not only were these sorts of inconsistencies then investigated, but that the forms didn’t provide information to allow the investigators to understand why (or why not) it was ethically performed.
The paperwork isn’t there for no reason, if it isn’t sufficient to cya, it’s not actually doing anything for you beyond ritual, and you’d need to redesign your forms or accounting to correct that.
Researchers used samples from populations deemed by experts and campaigners to be vulnerable to exploitation, including Uyghurs and Tibetans
By this logic, said genetics journal should retract all papers which used samples from black people in the United States and Europe.
Nuance is hard, huh?
Europe and the US committed genocide against Africans in the past. Not in the present. China is committing genocide in the present.
Also, Europe and the US have a terrible track record of ignoring minorities when doing medical research, and they should be encouraged to include them more.
The moment an empire turns on science is the moment it signals its irredeemable collapse.
@Omega_Haxors yeah having ethical standards for consent is not that. If anything it’s the opposite.
I actually do think US/west hegemony is declining but I don’t see having rigorous research standards as an indication of it.
Read closer. These aren’t genuine grievances, it’s just right-wingers being racist. Good faith does not come from conspiracy theories.
I’m afraid Ockham’s razor leads me to a very different conclusion when it comes to a 2-year investigation by a Wiley journal. YMMV.
“I don’t care if it’s racist fascist pseudoscience with no basis in reality, it’s still a useful theory so I’m going to continue to believe it”
