Year: 2019

Earlier this month, as I have reported, I sent a letter to the Reuters global editor for “ethics and standards” about my concerns relating to last month’s hit piece on ME/CFS patients and me. (I put those words in quotation marks because I have seen little in the reporting and publication of this piece that…

Today I sent the following e-mail to Sue Paterson, director of legal services at Bristol University. I cc-d several other people on the e-mail. Dear Ms Paterson— Earlier this month, I sent you an e-mail to ask, among other questions, when Bristol University plans to finish its investigation of studies that exempted themselves from ethical…

I’ve never spoken to Francis Collins, who heads the National Institutes of Health. He comes across as a decent, caring man, and by all accounts he is. That’s certainly how he came across in his remarks earlier this month at the NIH’s meeting on ME/CFS research. But anyone who runs the NIH must play politics…

Hey folks! As of now I am at 71% of my goal, with eight days to go. So far I have exactly 700 donations. It would be great to get closer to 1000, as in previous years. Today, Erica Verillo has generously offered to match any donations made through this Friday–up to a total of…

After Reuters ran that PACE/CBT/GET propaganda piece last month, I sent an e-mail expressing two concerns to Kate Kelland, the reporter, and the two editors listed as having worked on the story. The first concern was that the story falsely said I published my investigation on the blog of a Berkeley colleague. Since Kelland had…

Last Sunday, I sent a letter expressing my concerns about Kate Kelland’s recent article to the appropriate person–the Reuters global editor for ethics and standards. After considering the issues, Reuters has decided to add my current academic title to the post and leave everything else as is. I appreciate the first decision and obviously disagree…

As of this post, I have achieved 57% of my goal, with 542 donations and 15 days left to go. I think that’s pretty good! I’m optimistic about getting reasonably close to the amount I’m trying to raise. Folks at Berkeley certainly notice the success of my crowdfunding. It is an unusual way for academics…

Last month I wrote to the director of legal services at the University of Bristol seeking information about documents from a study conducted by investigators from the institution. The study, published by BMJ Open in 2011, was called “Unidentified Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) is a major cause of school absence: surveillance outcomes from school-based…

As I figured, the crowdfunding slowed down dramatically last week after the initial rush, but in the last few days has experienced a bit of a lift. I’ve now topped $42,300 and have reached 44% of the goal. That’s pretty amazing! Many of the 420 donations are in the $10 to $20 range, but I’ve…

The PACE trial and other unacceptable studies from the CBT/GET ideological brigades have had an enormous impact around the world. Luckily, in the US at least, momentum seems to have finally shifted away from this bogus treatment paradigm. The shift, while welcome and long overdue, does not automatically mean more effective treatments are immediately at…

And here’s the crowdfunding link without any preamble: https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/14941 And here’s what I’ve written in the appeal: So it’s been a year since the last crowdfunding campaign for Trial By Error–my investigative reporting and public health project. While Trial By Error began 3+ years ago as an in-depth look at the PACE trial, it has…

Today is the official “hard launch” of Berkeley’s month of crowdfunding. The “soft launch” phase began last Wednesday, when the site actually went live. I posted the Trial By Error page that day on Facebook. As of this posting, I’ve already reached 27% of my goal, with almost $26,000 in donations! Things started with a…