'ethical dance' between biomedical
researchers and the media
Older people who performed a physical conditioning program developed by researchers at In 1965, Jose M.R. Delgado, a professor of physiology at the Yale School of Medicine, implanted electrodes in the brains of bulls in Cordova, Spain, to show that he could alter the animals' aggressive behavior.
The New York Times called the dramatic experiment "the most spectacular demonstration ever performed of the deliberate modification of animal behaviour through external control of the brain."
Recently unearthed video tapes of this experiment, however, prompted Peter J. Snyder, a visiting professor at the Yale Child Study Center (CSC), to ask questions not only about the validity of Delgado's experiment, but on the broader issues of publicizing science. Inspired by these questions, Snyder collaborated with Dr. Linda C. Mayes, the Arnold Gesell Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Psychology at the CSC, and Dr. Dennis Spencer, chair of the Department of Neurosurgery and the Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Neurosurgery, to organize a conference where scientists, doctors and ethicists could discuss these issues.
The resulting conference, "The Publicizing of Biomedical Research: The Ethical Dance Between Scientists and the Media," took place on July 13.
Some speakers used historical examples, like newspaper coverage of Louis Pasteur's discovery of anthrax and rabies vaccines in the late 19th century, to show the changing patterns of science in the media over the past few hundred years.
"Mass media has played a key and active role in the success of biomedical research," said John H. Warner, the Avalon Professor of the History of Medicine and chair of the Section of the History of Medicine at Yale.
Robert J. Levine, professor of medicine, lecturer in pharmacology and co-director of the Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, used more modern examples, such as media coverage of the Vioxx scandal, to probe what the ethical obligations of scientists are as they convey their work to society.
"There are many manifestations of faulty communications between scientists and the press," he said, "and in the press representation of the work of scientists to the public."
Other topics discussed included science and religion, the peer review process of journal publishing, and the translation of science into government policy.
At a late afternoon panel discussion, a main message of the day was summed up by Dr. Harry W. McConnell, director of the Institute for Sustainable Health, Education and Development, and professor of neurology and psychiatry at Griffith University School of Medicine in Queensland, Australia.
"I think in science reporting and in health reporting," said McConnell, "it's important to get away from the headlines."
Other speakers included Wesley Carr, dean emeritus at Westminster Abbey; Ruth Katz, dean of the School of Public Health and Health Services and the Walter G. Ross Professor of Health Policy at The George Washington University; Dr. Jerome Kassirer, Distinguished Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine and editor-in-chief emeritus of The New England Journal of Medicine; and Declan Doogan, president of research and development at Amarin Corporation and former senior vice president and head of worldwide development at Pfizer Inc.
-- By Susan C.P. Williams
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