‘Ethics is not a checkbox exercise.’ Bioinformatician Yves Moreau reacts to mass retraction of papers from China

Last week, bioinformatician Yves Moreau of KU Leuven scored an important victory: The journal Molecular Genetics & Genomic Medicine retracted 18 papers from Chinese institutions because of ethical concerns. Moreau has long waged a solo campaign against studies that fail to get proper free and informed consent when collecting genetic samples, especially from vulnerable populations in China. He had raised questions about the now-retracted papers in 2021 and says this appears to be the largest set of retractions ever over human rights issues. Identical retraction notices for the papers, posted online on 12 and 14 February, cite “inconsistencies between the consent documentation and the research reported.” The authors, all but a handful based in China, disagreed with the retractions or did not respond to queries from the journal. The research largely focuses on genetic markers that can be used to identify individuals and distinguish ethnic groups. Most of the papers focused on minority groups, such as the Uyghur, Tibetan, and Hui peoples, that are subject to intense surveillance by the Chinese security apparatus and may have faced pressure to cooperate with researchers. But Moreau says the lack of rigorous informed consent applies to studies of the Han Chinese majority as well. Moreau notes the research teams have unusually high proportions of investigators affiliated with the police and justice system. The retraction notices don’t ...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research