A Case Study in Scientific Fraud

Titus 1:2
“In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;”

A scientific paper called “DDT: A Case Study in Scientific Fraud” was published a few years ago in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. Though the author deals with scientific fraud related to the banning of DDT, he also gives insights into how some scientists are committing fraud to support other matters, like global warming and evolution.

Commercial product from the 1960s The paper’s author provides several examples of scientific fraud, but today we have time to deal with only one. Environmentalists wanted to portray DDT as a hazardous substance that was endangering birds. One scientist was able to show that the shells of bird eggs were thinner and more fragile after being exposed to the pesticide.

But here is the rest of the story. The scientist behind the thinning egg shell claim had changed the birds’ diet, reducing their calcium levels from the normal 2.5 percent to just 0.56 percent. It was this radical reduction in calcium from their diet that caused the egg shells to get thinner – not the DDT! When this fact was presented to Science magazine, the editor refused to publish it, saying that “they would never publish anything that was not antagonistic toward DDT.”

Scientific fraud – like all lies – comes from the father of lies. How different is our God. He cannot lie. And that means you can believe the Bible when it tells you that you can have eternal life when you repent of your sin and put your trust in what Jesus did for you on the cross.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I pray that scientific fraud will backfire on such deceivers. Let the lies committed in darkness get exposed to the light so they will become widely known! Amen.

Author: Steven J. Schwartz
Ref: J. Gordon Edwards, Ph.D , “DDT: A Case Study in Scientific Fraud,” Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, Volume 9, Number 3, Fall 2004, pp. 83-88. http://www.jpands.org/vol9no3/edwards.pdf. Photo: Commercial product from the 1960s. (CC CC0-1 PD)