|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
‘Anti-Anthrax’ Product Under Fire
Experts say they doubt the potential efficacy of a product that is being promoted as a possible treatment for anthrax exposure, the Dallas Morning News reported Sunday (see GSN, June 21). A U.S. lawmaker and a Texas police chief appeared on a video advertising the Bio-Germ Protection kit, which includes skin lotion, a nasal spray to be used against inhalational anthrax and a decontamination aerosol. University of Texas microbiologist John Heggers wrote in a scientific journal that the protection kit would offer protection against an anthrax attack. He later indicated it could also work against smallpox and the plague, according to the Morning News. The newspaper’s investigation led the University of Texas to review Heggers’ work. “Dr. Heggers has committed significant scientific misconduct by making excessive and false claims based on his research,” university officials wrote. “His misconduct is all the more egregious because his false claims involve nationally important public policy.” Two scientists listed as co-authors in the study published in a journal article on Bio-Germ said they had never seen the piece. The Journal of Burns and Wounds subsequently retracted the article. Heggers tested Bio-Germ on a form of anthrax that could be eliminated by rubbing alcohol, rather than the more infectious spore form used in the 2001 anthrax mailings, experts told the Morning News. Heggers acknowledged exaggerating the potential benefits of the product marketed by Bio-Germ. “Scientists must stay close to the facts they discover and not let hopes and expectations get ahead of them,” he stated in an e-mail message to the newspaper. “I failed in that regard, and for that I apologize; but I assure you my intentions were honorable and not mercenary.” U.S. Representative Ralph Hall (R-Texas) said in the promotion video that Bio-Germ “certainly appears to be a breakthrough and the answer to the anthrax problem.” He said he did not believe he was endorsing the kit. Members of Congress are barred from endorsing products in their capacity as lawmakers. Bio-Germ continues to sell its product online. The company could face federal penalties if found to have made false claims about the kit, according to the Morning News (Michael Grabell, Dallas Morning News, July 3).
| ||||||||||
Back to top
