Comment
Retraction—Effect of vitamin and trace-element supplementation on immune responses and infection in elderly subjects On Oct 6, 2015, we asked the Dean of Medicine of Memorial University, St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, to conduct a formal investigation into the research by Dr Ranjit Kumar Chandra that culminated in his publication in The Lancet in 1992.1 Chandra gives Memorial University as his address in the 1992 paper, and Memorial University is also acknowledged as supporting the research through a University Research Professorship Award. We reopened our investigations into this paper because of documentation released into the public domain during a libel trial in Canada involving Chandra and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), which Chandra lost in July, 2015. Chandra has informed us that he is appealing against the judgment. The libel trial was about three programmes made by the CBC which raised concerns about Chandra’s research, including the 1992 paper. Previous concerns about the 1992 publication were raised by Kenneth J Carpenter, Seth Roberts, and Saul Sternberg as documented in Correspondence in The Lancet in 2003,2 with a reply by Chandra;3 and when Nutrition retracted a paper by Chandra in 2005,4 which involved the same subjects as the 1992 Lancet paper. On Nov 27, 2015, Memorial University sent us a report by Dr William Pryse-Phillips, dated Oct 23, 2009, with supplementary comments dated Nov 3, 2015.5 The Pryse-Phillips report into a paper by Chandra that was submitted to the BMJ in 2000, published in Nutrition in 2001, and retracted in 2005, concluded that this paper “was not in full compliance with the scientific, ethical
www.thelancet.com Vol 387 January 30, 2016
and/or integrity standards of Memorial University at the time”. On Dec 11, 2015, after further correspondence with Memorial University, we received a letter from Dr Gary Kachanoski, President and Vice-Chancellor of Memorial University, stating that it is “our view that the concerns documented by the Pryse-Phillips report in relation to ‘subjects and methods’ in combination with concerns identified by other commentators, provide confirmation that there are serious problems with the veracity of the 1992 Lancet publication”. In view of the concerns raised, together with the conclusions drawn by Memorial University, which was Chandra’s institution in 1992, the balance of probabilities in our judgment is that the reliability of the 1992 Lancet paper by Chandra can no longer be assured. Chandra disputes these concerns and Memorial’s conclusions, and does not agree with the need to retract the 1992 paper. Nevertheless, we retract the 1992 Lancet paper from the scientific record. The Editors of The Lancet The Lancet, London EC2Y 5AS, UK 1
2 3 4 5
Chandra RK. Effect of vitamin and trace-element supplementation on immune responses and infection in elderly subjects. Lancet 1992; 340: 1124–27. Carpenter KJ, Roberts S, Sternberg S. Nutrition and immune function: a 1992 report. Lancet 2003; 361: 2247. Chandra RK. Author’s reply. Lancet 2003; 361: 2247–48. Meguid MM. Retraction. Nutrition 2005; 21: 286. Pryse-Phillips W. Inquiry into Dr RK Chandra’s submitted paper to the BMJ: #00/5797. Revised version of my report of January 2009, after examination of discovered material. Oct 23, 2009. U/GK/PRYSE-PHILLIPS REPORT1126. PDF (2015). http://www.mun.ca/research/PRYSE-PHILLIPS_REPORT1126. pdf (accessed Jan 20, 2016).
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Retraction—Effect of vitamin and trace-element supplementation on immune responses and infection in elderly subjects On Oct 6, 2015, we asked the Dean of Medicine of Memorial University, St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, to conduct a formal investigation into the research by Dr Ranjit Kumar Chandra that culminated in his publication in The Lancet in 1992.1 Chandra gives Memorial University as his address in the 1992 paper, and Memorial University is also acknowledged as supporting the research through a University Research Professorship Award. We reopened our investigations into this paper because of documentation released into the public domain during a libel trial in Canada involving Chandra and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), which Chandra lost in July, 2015. Chandra has informed us that he is appealing against the judgment. The libel trial was about three programmes made by the CBC which raised concerns about Chandra’s research, including the 1992 paper. Previous concerns about the 1992 publication were raised by Kenneth J Carpenter, Seth Roberts, and Saul Sternberg as documented in Correspondence in The Lancet in 2003,2 with a reply by Chandra;3 and when Nutrition retracted a paper by Chandra in 2005,4 which involved the same subjects as the 1992 Lancet paper. On Nov 27, 2015, Memorial University sent us a report by Dr William Pryse-Phillips, dated Oct 23, 2009, with supplementary comments dated Nov 3, 2015.5 The Pryse-Phillips report into a paper by Chandra that was submitted to the BMJ in 2000, published in Nutrition in 2001, and retracted in 2005, concluded that this paper “was not in full compliance with the scientific, ethical
www.thelancet.com Vol 387 January 30, 2016
and/or integrity standards of Memorial University at the time”. On Dec 11, 2015, after further correspondence with Memorial University, we received a letter from Dr Gary Kachanoski, President and Vice-Chancellor of Memorial University, stating that it is “our view that the concerns documented by the Pryse-Phillips report in relation to ‘subjects and methods’ in combination with concerns identified by other commentators, provide confirmation that there are serious problems with the veracity of the 1992 Lancet publication”. In view of the concerns raised, together with the conclusions drawn by Memorial University, which was Chandra’s institution in 1992, the balance of probabilities in our judgment is that the reliability of the 1992 Lancet paper by Chandra can no longer be assured. Chandra disputes these concerns and Memorial’s conclusions, and does not agree with the need to retract the 1992 paper. Nevertheless, we retract the 1992 Lancet paper from the scientific record. The Editors of The Lancet The Lancet, London EC2Y 5AS, UK 1
2 3 4 5
Chandra RK. Effect of vitamin and trace-element supplementation on immune responses and infection in elderly subjects. Lancet 1992; 340: 1124–27. Carpenter KJ, Roberts S, Sternberg S. Nutrition and immune function: a 1992 report. Lancet 2003; 361: 2247. Chandra RK. Author’s reply. Lancet 2003; 361: 2247–48. Meguid MM. Retraction. Nutrition 2005; 21: 286. Pryse-Phillips W. Inquiry into Dr RK Chandra’s submitted paper to the BMJ: #00/5797. Revised version of my report of January 2009, after examination of discovered material. Oct 23, 2009. U/GK/PRYSE-PHILLIPS REPORT1126. PDF (2015). http://www.mun.ca/research/PRYSE-PHILLIPS_REPORT1126. pdf (accessed Jan 20, 2016).
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