Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

[Barry Karr <SkeptInq@AOL.COM>]

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Kevin Christopher
Phone: 716 636 1425 x 218
Fax: 716 636 1733
E-mail: press@csicop.org

N.C.C.A.M. funds dangerous research

Amherst, NY (August 22, 2003)- A new article in the September/October 2003
issue of Skeptical Inquirer by anesthesiologist Kimball Atwood, M.D.,
describes a history of dubious science at the National Center for
Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). The NCCAM is a branch of
National Institutes of Health (NIH) and successor to the Office of
Alternative Medicine (OAM). The heavy hands of Iowa Senator Tom Harkin and
former Iowa representative Berkeley Bedell were behind the formation of the
OAM and NCCAM, and leave their fingerprints all over past and current
projects. Senator Harkin came to believe that he was cured of his hay fever
by bee pollen: ever since he has been an avid supporter of research into
complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

Atwood argues that "the NCCAM continues to be committed more to
pseudoscience and CAM advocacy than real science." According to Atwood,
Senator Harkin's and Berkeley Bedell's influence and meddling through
funding for NCCAM's research and staff appointments have compromised the
integrity of the Center's work.

Atwood presents shocking findings about NCCAM-funded research. NCCAM and the
NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) both fund
Bastyr University's AIDS Research Center (BUARC). (See
http://www.bastyr.edu/research/buarc/). Not only does BUARC waste money on
incredible AIDS "therapies" like distant healing, it conducts research that
is downright dangerous: namely testing the anti-HIV activity of St. John's
Wort-an herb that has been proven to have dangerous interactions with the
HIV protease inhibitors (see
http://www.bastyr.edu/research/buarc/activities.asp). Funding continues
despite the fact that the NCCAM has long known the dangers discovered by
other researchers in the NIH-and even issued a press release back in
February 2000 warning about them (see
http://nccam.nih.gov/news/19972000/021000.htm). "How many people carrying
HIV may have developed AIDS or relapses because of such promotion [of St.
John's Wort HIV therapy] is a mystery," writes Atwood, "but there is no
indication that anyone at Bastyr or the NCCAM is wondering."

Skeptical Inquirer is the official journal of the Committee for the
Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), a non-profit
science and education organization founded in 1976 by Dr. Paul Kurtz of the
State University of New York at Buffalo, in addition to Carl Sagan, Isaac
Asimov and other leading scientists and writers dedicated to scientific
literacy. The official Web site for CSICOP and Skeptical Inquirer is
http://www.csicop.org.

For copies of this article from the new Skeptical Inquirer, to arrange an
interview with the authors, or to request reprint permissions for the
articles mentioned in this release, contact Kevin Christopher at 716 636
1425, extension 218 or send an e-mail to press@csicop.org.

###



PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Kevin Christopher
Phone: 716 636 1425 x 218
Fax: 716 636 1733
E-mail: press@csicop.org

A Forged James Ossuary?  You read it first in Skeptical Inquirer

Amherst, NY (August 22, 2003)--You read it first in Skeptical Inquirer. Now,
in the new September/October 2003 issue, Skeptical Inquirer columnist Joe
Nickell follows up on his March/April 2003 special report with recent
developments in the James ossuary case. In the report he wrote for the
March/April issue, Nickell was the first to argue from the preponderance of
evidence that the James ossuary may well be a forged inscription on an
authentic, but otherwise unremarkable, bone box.

"The scenario was proved accurate," Nickell writes in his current follow-up,
"by the Israeli Antiquities Authority and utilizing a panoply of
sophisticated analytical techniques."

The James ossuary is an example of a type of limestone box commonly used to
hold skeletal remains. What set it apart from the average bone box is an
Aramaic inscription that reads (in English): "James, son of Joseph, brother
of Jesus." Many were quick to accept the ossuary as the genuine receptacle
for the remains of James, the brother of Jesus Christ. They were certainly
encouraged by the misguided certitude of French biblical scholar Andre
Lemaire and Biblical Archeology Review editor Hershel Shanks.

In late July, Israeli police raided the Tel Aviv home of Israeli antiquities
collector Oded Golan, owner of the famed ossuary. Golan was arrested on July
21, on suspicion of forging ancient artifacts and was released on July 25;
as of August 18, charges have not yet been filed against him. The Israeli
Antiquities Authority also published a report confirming that the patina in
the inscription was faked.

In his special report, Nickell had pointed out several suspicious facts that
called into question the authenticity of the artifact. The patina of the
inscription was questionable. Scholars were finding inconsistencies in the
style of the lettering. A provenance was utterly lacking. (Golan said that
he bought the ossuary in the Old City (old Jerusalem) "in the 1970s," paying
an Arab antiquities dealer he can no longer identify.)  Lemaire had
originally claimed that the ossuary was otherwise unadorned. This claim was
belied when Nickell's observed rosettes on the side opposite the inscription
during his inspection of the object in its exhibit at the Royal Ontario
Museum in Toronto. That is a puzzling fact, given that ossuaries are usually
decorated and inscribed on one side only.

"Forgers frequently select genuine old artifacts upon which to inflict their
handiwork," Nickell concluded in the March/April 2003 issue, noting similar
forgeries he has personally investigated and exposed, such as Daniel Boone
muskets and the "Jack the Ripper" diary. "Mounting evidence has begun to
suggest that the James ossuary may be yet such another production." Indeed
the raid of Golan's home has completely undermined any serious claims of
authenticity.

Of course, Golan is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. However,
the conclusion that he had something to do with the forged "James Ossuary"
is probably inevitable as details about the discoveries made in the July
raid are made public. According to a recent Religion News Service story,
directly damning evidence was found in a rooftop storage room. "We found in
this room other inscriptions and antiquities that appeared to be in various
stages of being counterfeited," Israel Antiquities Authority officer Amir
Ganor told the Religion News Service. "We also found a lot of equipment for
the process."

Skeptical Inquirer is the official journal of the Committee for the
Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), a non-profit
science and education organization founded in 1976 by Dr. Paul Kurtz of the
State University of New York at Buffalo, in addition to Carl Sagan, Isaac
Asimov and other leading scientists and writers dedicated to scientific
literacy. The official Web site for CSICOP and Skeptical Inquirer is
http://www.csicop.org.

For copies of this article from the new Skeptical Inquirer, to arrange an
interview with the authors, or to request reprint permissions for the
articles mentioned in this release, contact Kevin Christopher at 716 636
1425, extension 218 or send an e-mail to press@csicop.org.

###