Is it 'binge-and-purge' or 'whiplash'? --MW
ANALYSIS: Scientific reporting using 'binge and purge' method
Copyright 1998 Nando.net
Copyright 1998 Scripps Howard
(July 2, 1998 01:09 a.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - People
desperately seeking new treatments for cancer and other diseases may
face dashed hopes, frustration and much worse unless they recognize a
disturbing trend in reporting medical news appears in especially blatant
form on television.
Science, one of the world's top scientific journals, just coined a term
for this woeful phenomenon. Science, the journal of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, terms it the
"binge-and-purge" school of science reporting.
Everyone has seen this strange approach as new advances in medicine and
science assume a higher profile and become more and more entertainment
and less and less real news.
Binge-and-purge reporting means that an advance in science gets
over-enthusiastic initial news coverage. A whole wave of stories hype
the discovery, with network news shows featuring the feat and presenting
special in-depth reports.
Then come a second wave of stories, often conveniently ignored or
minimized by the TV folks, expressing all kinds of reservations about
the initial report. That's the purge. But the refocusing often gets less
prominence in terms of air time and placement than it does in magazines
and newspapers.
People sometimes are left with the impression that sweeping progress
actually has been made against cancer and other diseases, when little of
any immediate importance in terms of everyday treatment of a disease has
happened.
Science coined the term "binge and purge" in an article critical of
recent news media coverage of the potential anti-cancer drugs,
angiostatin and endostatin.
Cancer clinics were swamped with phone calls from hopeful patients after
a page one story in The New York Times characterized the drugs as likely
to cure cancer within two years. Some patients wanted to stop or delay
conventional chemotherapy and wait for angiostatin and endostatin.
The Science article questioned why the Times displayed the report so
prominently. The drugs had been under development for years, after all,
and nothing really new had changed their status as promising drugs
tested only in laboratory mice.
Indeed, a dozen similar drugs, already being tested on people, have not
lived up to hopes raised in lab experiments.
The Times article, however, carefully mentioned that angiostatin and
endostatin had not been tested in humans, and that other drugs,
spectacularly effective against cancer in mice, proved disappointing
when tried in people. But such key points were lost as the story
blossomed on television, raising false hopes in millions of patients
with cancer and their families.
What points? For one, angiostatin and endostatin don't even exist as
human drugs. Researchers have only enough to test on mice. It may take
one year to produce enough for even a few patients.
Science's report also mentions a few tidbits that may have escaped wider
public note.
The two most prominent scientists quoted in the Times story later denied
making optimistic statements attributed to them. One was Nobel laureate
James Watson, a physician quoted as stating that the drugs would cure
cancer within two years. Another was Richard Klausner, National Cancer
Institute chief, quoted as stating that NCI is giving the drugs top
priority.
It also turned out that a literary agent for the Times reporter was
negotiating a book deal for the reporter, asking for an advance on
royalties of $2 million.
Other medical advances have been caught in the binge-and-purge approach.
More face that fate in the future.
During the binge, patients and families should avoid undue optimism
about a cure. Be aware of the entertainment factor in TV news. Read news
accounts carefully and critically. Don't throw away your old medicine.
Don't pepper physicians with phone calls. Wait until all the cards have
been dealt.
By MICHAEL WOODS, Toledo Blade. Distributed by Scripps Howard News
Service.
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