Controversial immunologist faces court case
BMJ 2002; 324 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.324.7339.695 (Published 23 March 2002) Cite this as: BMJ 2002;324:695All rapid responses
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31st March 2002
Sir,
Xavier Bosch in his report on the problems facing Antonio Arnaiz-
Villena mentions in passing that an article of his was withdrawn after
publication because of its’ alleged political content.[1] I would strongly
suggest that the censorship effected by this article’s withdrawal demands
an explanation from those who withdrew it regardless of whether or not it
is related in any way to the origin of the charges against Dr Arnaiz-
Villena.
The journal in question is published by Elsevier Science Inc. and in
a letter from their Amsterdam office dated 3rd October 2001 to our local
medical library Paul W Taylor, senior publishing editor, writes as
follows:
‘Regrettably it has come to our attention that an article in a recent
issue of Human Immunology (Vol 62/9, pp. 889-900, “The Origins of
Palestinians and Their Genetic Relatedness With Other Mediterranean
Populations” by Arnaiz-Villena et al.) included certain statements that
the American Society of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI, the
owner of the journal), the Editor-in-Chief, and we as Publisher found were
entirely inappropriate for articles published in this journal. Together
ASHI, the Editor and we made the decision to withdraw the article as it
appears in that issue of the journal.
All electronic versions of the article are no longer available,
therefore, and we have informed Current Contents of these actions. We
would like to advise you to either ignore the article in question
(including the mention of the title in the Contents listing for this
issue) or, preferably, to physically remove the relevant pages.
Elsevier Science aims for the highest standards in scientific
publishing and we deeply regret any upset that has been caused by the
original publication of this article and its subsequent withdrawal.’
This particular issue of the journal was a special one addressing the
topic of Anthropology and Genetic Markers and both Dr Arnaiz-Villena’s
article and these others listed below as examples would seem to fit well
with this remit.
Molecular analysis of HLA allelic frequencies and haplotypes in
Jordanians and comparison with other related populations.
Genetic link between Asians and Native Americans: evidence from HLA
genes and haplotypes.
African diversity from the HLA point of view: influence of genetic
drift, geography, linguistics and natural selection.
To a non-specialist Dr Arnaiz-Villena’s article seems to be evidence
that Palestinians and Jews are very close genetic relatives probably both
descended from ancient Canaanites. Quite why this suggestion causes such
great political offence is less clear.
Can I, through your columns, challenge the American Society of
Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, Dr N Sucia-Foca the editor-in-chief
of Human Immunology, and Paul W Taylor, senior publishing editor at
Elsevier Science Inc to justify their unprecedented censorship of this
article?
For those who have not had the opportunity to read Dr Arnaiz-
Villena’s paper here is the abstract:
The origin of Palestinians and their genetic relatedness with other
Mediterranean populations
Antonio Arnaiz-Villena et al
The genetic profile of Palestinians has, for the first time, been
studied by using human leukocyte antigen (HLA) gene variability and
haplotypes. The comparison with other Mediterranean populations by using
neighbour-joining dendrograms and correspondence analyses reveal that
Palestinians are genetically very close to Jews and other Middle East
populations, including Turks (Anatolians), Lebanese, Egyptians, Armenians,
and Iranians. Archaeologic and genetic data support that both Jews and
Palestinians came from the ancient Canaanites, who extensively mixed with
Egyptians, Mesopotamian, and Anatolian peoples in ancient times. Thus,
Palestinian-Jewish rivalry is based in cultural and religious, but not
genetic, differences. The relatively close relatedness of both Jews and
Palestinians to western Mediterranean populations reflects the continuous
circum-Mediterranean cultural and gene flow that have occurred in
prehistoric and historic times. This flow overtly contradicts the demic
diffusion model of western Mediterranean populations substitution by
agriculturalists coming from the Middle East in the Mesolithic-Neolithic
transition.
Sam Richmond
References
1. Bosch X. Controversial immunologist faces court case. BMJ 2002; 324:
695
Competing interests: No competing interests
Deletion of a published article
It would make sense to delete an article - expunge it - if it
contained fake data. Was this the case with the article by A. Arnaiz-
Villena et al (Human Immunology, 2001, 62, 889-900)? If the data remains
unchallenged, then I am at a loss to understand why the Journal has chosen
to wipe it off the records. As for the conclusions drawn, presumably the
peers who reviewed the article (on behalf of Human Immunology) did not
regard them as wholly or greatly misconceived - otherwise the article
would have been surely rejected.
JK Anand
Competing interests: No competing interests