RCP: Most people are 'tone deaf' to science

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Thursday, 18, Oct 2007 12:00

Professor Mark Pepys, one of Britain's most eminent clinician scientists, delivers a scathing attack on the low level of scientific literacy in the population and "pseudoscience" in the year's most prestigious medical lecture, the Harveian Oration* at the Royal College

of Physicians. Professor Pepys, Head of Medicine at the Hampstead Campus of University College London, says that the majority of the population are "tone deaf to science":

"Lack of exposure to science and grossly inadequate scientific education in schools has created a population which is as effectively cut-off from understanding science and how it operates, as a totally tone deaf individual is cut-off from appreciation and enjoyment of music."

This is not only a terrible deprivation, but also allows "junk science, avidly taken up and promoted by much of the media, to effortlessly to take root and flourish, often very damagingly."

The Oration, entitled 'Science and Serendipity', is being delivered at 5.30 pm on Thursday October 18 at the Royal College of Physicians.

Focusing on the difference between bad science and good science, and the place of serendipity or accidental discovery in science, the lecture also covers the significant scientific milestones of Professor Pepys'career, including his 1972 discovery of the role of complement in antibody formation, and studies on C-reactive protein and amyloidosis.

Amyloidosis is a rare but serious medical condition in which the body produces abnormal proteins, and is associated with a wide variety of diseases. Professor Pepys established the UK NHS National Amyloidosis Centre at the Royal Free Hospital in 1999 and also directs the UCL Centre for Amyloidosis and Acute Phase Proteins in which the National Amyloidosis Centre is embedded.

Professor Pepys quotes from Robert Park's 'Voodoo Science - the road from foolishness to fraud', in which Park identifies three forms of bad

science:

Pathological science - observing what the perpetrator expects or wants to see, reaching the wrong conclusion and having it accepted by others.

Junk science - comprising crafted 'evidence', often deliberately confusing association and causality

Pseudoscience - apparently scientific sounding statements and beliefs comprising claims and assertions, with no evidence at all.

While the spectrum of bad science stretches from ineptitude to deliberate fraud, Professor Pepys says the consequences are made much worse by the media:

"Although bad science starts with the initial perpetrators of pathological, junk, pseudo- and fraudulent science, the problem is greatly exacerbated by the combination of poor scientific literacy in the general population and the media, and by the patchy performance of supposedly reputable scientific journals. Editors hungry for high impact papers, and reviewers who are less than adequately knowledgeable, experienced or critical, can lead to publication of really bad science in respected journals. If the case happens to have medical or public health impact the attendant consequences can be extremely serious. Publication of a sensational or scary story in a journal inevitably leads to promotion by the media, often fostered by the original authors."

Professor Pepys uses the MMR/autism fiasco as a prime example of this.

Notes to Editors

The Harveian Oration will take place at 5.30 pm on Thursday 18 October at the Royal College of Physicians, 11 St Andrews Place, Regent's Park, London NW1 4LE, and journalists are welcome to attend. For further information, a full copy of the Oration and to arrange interviews please contact RCP PR Manager Linda Cuthbertson on 020 7935 1174 ext.254, or Lucy Widenka on 020 7935 1174 ext.468 or e-mail Linda.Cuthbertson@rcplondon.ac.uk, Lucy.Widenka@rcplondon.ac.uk