The Dark Side of Science

2017/12/04 Galarraga Aiestaran, Ana - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Giza zientziak
• Medikuntza
• Industria

Last week, a study related to the industry and the health of sugar caused a great stir. According to him, the U.S. sugar industry concealed research that showed sucrose, that is, common sugar affects cancer and hyperlipidemia. Researchers at the University of California took the surface: In a research funded by the Sugar Research Foundation, the effects of sugar on the health of mice were being tested. As the results were not to their liking, they definanced and silenced their conclusions. In any case, it cannot be said that it was a great surprise, since another work published by the same research group last year showed that the sugar industry had hidden the relationship between sucrose and heart disease. Research that demonstrates the health effects of their products has also hidden, mixed, and distorted tobacco and alcohol. The lie they have sold has been so convincing that still many people believe that drinking a little alcohol is not harmful, but beneficial to health, even though the latest research has shown that low alcohol consumption is also harmful. The pharmaceutical industry has also not remained out of the game, and the diseases that have to remedy. And without inventing anything, in an investigation carried out in Washington, doctors who accept gifts from the pharmaceutical industry have shown that they send more medicines than necessary and more expensive to patients. For the benefit of science, however, it is essential to establish strict controls to avoid inadequate behavior. For science and for our good.

Published in the newspaper Berria.