Study Tied Pollutant to Cancer; Then Consultants Got Hold of It.

The article compares a 1987 study and a 1997 study of chromium-contaminated villages near JinZhou, China. The 1987 study, published by Dr. Zhang JianDong, stated that people were dying of cancer at higher rates in the village than people who lived nearby. The Chinese government gave him a national award for his research. However, in 1997 Dr. Zhang appeared to retract his findings in a study published under his name in a medical journal stating that there was no cancer link to chromium after all. Court papers indicate that the second study was conceived, drafted, edited and submitted to medical journals by science consultants working for a utility company being sued for alleged chromium pollution in California. The consultants paid Dr. Zhang about $2000 for research assistance on the second study.