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In response to a series of Citizen articles, Health Canada has defended its scientific standards in the issue of a small online journal it established through a publisher widely condemned as “predatory.”
The Citizen obtained internal emails from the department under an access-to-information request. These show that Health Canada was warned by a government expert that the Croatian publishing company appeared to practise “fake peer review” — a form of scientific fraud.
Health Canada sent the Citizen a written response about why it dealt with the publisher for some weeks after the warning. It was sent Monday evening, but delayed by an email problem. The department wrote:
“Health Canada takes scientific integrity and the peer review process very seriously. The Department no longer publishes in this journal and has no plans to do so in the future. All information previously published in this journal is now made available on the Department’s web site.”
Meanwhile the documents released in the access request also show that the Health Canada food scientist who set up the journal says his bosses at Health Canada refused to let him discuss the scientific issue publicly.
Samuel Godefroy was director general of the Food Directorate, and served as one of two editors in chief.
When the controversy became public just over a year ago, Godefroy was eager to tell his story in public, the documents show. But he told his colleagues that he was forced by his bosses to keep silent. He has left the department and now teaches at Laval University.
In late 2014, with Health Canada’s journal in the news, Godefroy drafted a letter to the editor of the Citizen.
He never sent it.
“I have prepared this response as a letter to the Editor, that the Branch is unlikely to let me send,” he wrote to more than a dozen colleagues.
He later wrote in notes about the incident: “No approval was provided to my proposed letter to the Editor…” A hand-written note in the margin adds: “This is a personal attack — yet unable to respond!”
A deputy minister sent a letter to the editor, which was printed.
Godefroy’s unsent letter defended his actions, and his department’s. In setting up the International Food Risk Analysis Journal, he said, Health Canada staff maintained full editorial control, and had a solid set of checks in place to assure that all the content was of high quality.
He argues in another email that Health Canada was cutting back sharply the amount of scientific information stored in its own website, forcing scientists to publish elsewhere.
“I deemed it important to explain myself, as I considered this newspaper article as an attack on my scientific integrity (personally),” he wrote.
Reached by email this week, Godefroy said he still is bound not to comment on the department’s actions.
tspears@postmedia.com
twitter.com/TomSpears1
查看原文...
The Citizen obtained internal emails from the department under an access-to-information request. These show that Health Canada was warned by a government expert that the Croatian publishing company appeared to practise “fake peer review” — a form of scientific fraud.
Health Canada sent the Citizen a written response about why it dealt with the publisher for some weeks after the warning. It was sent Monday evening, but delayed by an email problem. The department wrote:
“Health Canada takes scientific integrity and the peer review process very seriously. The Department no longer publishes in this journal and has no plans to do so in the future. All information previously published in this journal is now made available on the Department’s web site.”
Meanwhile the documents released in the access request also show that the Health Canada food scientist who set up the journal says his bosses at Health Canada refused to let him discuss the scientific issue publicly.
Samuel Godefroy was director general of the Food Directorate, and served as one of two editors in chief.
When the controversy became public just over a year ago, Godefroy was eager to tell his story in public, the documents show. But he told his colleagues that he was forced by his bosses to keep silent. He has left the department and now teaches at Laval University.
In late 2014, with Health Canada’s journal in the news, Godefroy drafted a letter to the editor of the Citizen.
He never sent it.
“I have prepared this response as a letter to the Editor, that the Branch is unlikely to let me send,” he wrote to more than a dozen colleagues.
He later wrote in notes about the incident: “No approval was provided to my proposed letter to the Editor…” A hand-written note in the margin adds: “This is a personal attack — yet unable to respond!”
A deputy minister sent a letter to the editor, which was printed.
Godefroy’s unsent letter defended his actions, and his department’s. In setting up the International Food Risk Analysis Journal, he said, Health Canada staff maintained full editorial control, and had a solid set of checks in place to assure that all the content was of high quality.
He argues in another email that Health Canada was cutting back sharply the amount of scientific information stored in its own website, forcing scientists to publish elsewhere.
“I deemed it important to explain myself, as I considered this newspaper article as an attack on my scientific integrity (personally),” he wrote.
Reached by email this week, Godefroy said he still is bound not to comment on the department’s actions.
tspears@postmedia.com
twitter.com/TomSpears1
查看原文...
