[lynx23]

It has taught us that media distorts scientific information on demand. I am generally on your side, however, my lesson in the last years is that the communication channels can not be trusted, therefore I can no longer blindly trust what science supposedly tells me.

[bombolo]

Also scientists distort scientific information.

I was recently arguing with a vegan about how healthy it really is to be vegan, and I sent a german paper that tested 75 people and found a generic lack of iron absorption.

The other person said 75 is too small size, and sent me a literature review that claimed that iron absorption in vegans is fine. The only source for that claim in the literature review was the same paper I had originally sent.

So the authors of the literature review just quoted a paper, completely changed the original conclusions, and got it approved.

If we were serious about science, they should all face punishment for even attempting this. But they knew that at worst their paper would be rejected.

[lynx23]

It is similar to what happens with teachers where I come from. Once you managed to obtain the status of "teacher", it is virtually impossible to loose it again, no matter how bad your teaching is. Apparently, something similar is going on with scientists, and a few other professions. There is no mechanism in place to get rid of bad apples, because society thinks it would be unfair to remove someone from a job where they had to go thru considerable training to actually get it.