On Aug 12, Science magazine published a strange journalistic article about an ongoing vitamin D asthma study. I responded on the next day while also the former editor-in-chief of Science Jeremy Berg noted
Science Mag then printed also a longer rebuttal of Dr. Berg
Piller minimizes the rationale used to select the placebo-controlled trial design and suggests that there is agreement that such a design is unethical… The News story notes that the majority of children in the trial were Black and states that this constitutes overrepresentation… Rather than being criticized, this trial should be commended for inclusion of appropriate trial participants…. Piller writes that participants were at increased risk of fractures and that the nine bone fractures experienced by study participants were more than anticipated, without specifying the magnitude of any increased risk or the anticipated number of fractures. However, there is no consensus that any increased risk exists…
as well as the response of Dr. Celedon in the same issue
Piller misrepresents the Vitamin D Kids Asthma Study (“Vit-D-Kids” or “VDKA”) . He reports concerns about the study’s design, participant safety and selection, consent forms, and report trans-parency. These doubts are unfounded. VDKA ethically investigated a potentially important treatment for childhood asthma.
Unfortunately the concluding statement of the news editor Tim Appenzeller is so much out of this world that I would recommend to search now not only for another news correspondent but also another news editor.
Edit 18 Jan 2025
- Please read also the new Medium article by Dr Berg and the medRxiv article by Dr Celedon.
- For whatever reason the story surfaced again yesterday at Bluesky. For posteriority here is an unrolled thread with some interesting new details by Dr. Berg.
- Unfortunately some Twitter links expired recently but the links to the printed Science paper are still correct.
- This is one of the most unfair attacks of a dubious science journalist on a reputable scientist.
- I know Dr Celedon for several decades and although I never agreed on his opinion on high vitamin D demand in newborns, this discussion was always fair and on a high academic level.
- The motivation of Piller is unclear. Most likely and as we found with other stories he wants to establish himself as an investigative “Woodward-Bernstein style” reporter on the cost of his victims.
- The so called “ethics” experts of Piller missed the biological facts of vitamin D metabolism.