San Diego

One year after a journalist rocked the world of anthropology with allegations of serious misconduct in research among Amazonian tribes, the American Anthropological Association (AAA) remains deeply divided over how to respond. In the latest twist, the society has been forced to remove a draft report on the allegations from its website, following dissent among contributors over its contents.

In his book Darkness in El Dorado: How Scientists and Journalists Devastated the Amazon, Patrick Tierney examined three decades of research among the Yanomami people in Venezuela. He alleged that geneticist James Neel of the University of Michigan and anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon of the University of California, Santa Barbara, improperly bartered weapons for interviews, conducted clinical studies without informed consent, and may have exposed the Yanomami to infectious diseases (see Nature 408, 391; 2000). Neel died in 2000 before the book was published, but Chagnon, who is retired, has protested his innocence.

The AAA subsequently set up a task force to investigate the charges and to draw up new standards for the conduct of studies of indigenous peoples. An early draft appeared on the society's website shortly before the AAA's annual meeting in Washington in November. But at that gathering, the society's leaders were heavily criticized over the draft's contents, and for making it available. It was removed from the website shortly afterwards.

At the meeting, Fernando Coronil of the University of Michigan and Janet Chernela of Florida International University near Miami, both members of the task force, complained that they had not seen the document before it was put online. Both argued that the draft failed to accurately reflect the accused researchers' responsibility for identified problems.

The disagreements show how hard it is for scientific societies to deal with allegations of misconduct, particularly when the accused — like Neel and Chagnon — are prominent figures. Jane Hill of the University of Arizona in Tucson, who chairs the task force, says that there is still much work to do. AAA officials hope that the task force will nonetheless complete its report by the spring.

At the AAA meeting, Coronil won support for a proposal allowing members to write and sign individual sections of the report. This, he hoped, would allow the task force “to make a more powerful statement”. But whether it will lead to a report that is acceptable to both the task force and the association's members remains unclear.

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