SCIENCE-THE DARK SIDE 265One more unfortunate affair, however, bears mention. I was informed
by my nutrition society's Board of Directors that two society members
(Bob Olson and Alf Harper) had proposed to have me expelled from the
society, supposedly because of my association with the AI CR. It would
have been the first expulsion in the history of the society. I had to go to
Washington to be "interviewed" by the president of the society and the
director of nutrition at the FDA. Most of their questions concerned the
AICR.
The whole ordeal proved stranger than fiction. Expel a prominent
society member-shortly after I was nominated to be the organization's
president-for being involved with a cancer research organization? Lat-
er, I found myself reflecting on the whole ordeal with a colleague who
knew the inner workings of our society, Professor Sam Tove of North
Carolina State University. He, of course, knew all about the investiga-
tion, as well as other shenanigans. In our discussion, I told him about
AICR being a worthy organization with good intentions. His response
has resonated with me ever since. "It's not about AICR," he said. "It's
about what you did on the National Academy of Sciences report on diet,
nutrition and cancer."
When the NAS's report concluded in June 1982 that a lower intake
of fat and a higher intake of fruits, vegetables and whole grain products
would make for a healthier diet, I had betrayed, in the eyes of some, the
nutrition research community. Supposedly, as one of the two diet and
cancer experimental researchers on the panel, it was my job to protect
the reputation of the American diet as it was. After my failure to do so,
my subsequent involvement with the AICR and its promotion of the
NAS report only made matters worse.
Luckily, reason prevailed in this whole farcical encounter. A board
meeting was held to vote on whether I should be expelled from my so-
ciety, and I handily survived the vote (6-0, with two abstentions).
It was hard not to take all of this personally, but there's a larger point
here, and it's not personal. In the world of nutrition and health, scien-
tists are not free to pursue their research wherever it leads. Coming to
the "wrong" conclusions, even through first-rate science, can damage
your career. Trying to disseminate these "wrong" conclusions to the
public, for the sake of public health, can destroy your career. Mine was
not destroyed-I was lucky, and some good people stood up for me. But
it could have gone much worse.
After all of these numerous ordeals, I have a better understanding of