Scientist Dr. Shukun Li Claims Editor of Scientific Publication Made False Statements to Wall Street Journal; Demands Copyright Release.

Wall Street Journal story credited as key to $295 million Erin Brockovich settlement

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Dr. Shukun Li, a respected Chinese public health scientist, today demanded that the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (JOEM) release the copyright to a 1997 article that she co-authored and that was retracted by JOEM in 2006. She also reiterated her call for the editor, Dr. Paul Brandt-Rauf, to publicly apologize for falsely stating to the Wall Street Journal and others that she had agreed to the retraction.

Brandt-Rauf was quoted by the Wall Street Journal in a follow-up June 2006 story saying Dr. Li agreed to the article's retraction. But Dr. Li never agreed to the retraction and is seeking to republish the study in another peer-reviewed journal, which the JOEM has prevented by refusing to release its copyright according to Dr. Li.

In the initial story published on December 23, 2005, the Wall Street Journal charged that Dr. Li and her co-author, Dr. JianDong Zhang, had not actually written the study, "Cancer Mortality in a Chinese Population Exposed to Hexavalent Chromium in Water." Instead, the Wall Street Journal claimed the study was ghostwritten by American scientists working on behalf of Pacific Gas and Electric, then a defendant in a lawsuit over the discharge of wastewater in Hinkley, California. The lawsuit was featured in the 2000 motion picture "Erin Brockovich."

While not challenging the science or findings of the 1997 study, JOEM nonetheless retracted it in 2006 based on alleged violations of JOEM editorial policy for failing to include a footnote acknowledging research support of the American scientific consultants. Brandt-Rauf claimed in a June 2006 Wall Street Journal follow-up story, and in letters to JOEM board members and the scientific community, that Dr. Li approved the retraction.

"I never agreed to the retraction of the study," said Dr. Li. "I expressed my frustration with being powerless to prevent the JOEM from making a wrong decision in a conversation with a local Chinese reporter and with someone who called me on behalf of Dr. Brandt-Rauf. Upon being notified that the study was going to be retracted, I immediately wrote the JOEM in protest. Dr. Brandt-Rauf has severely damaged my reputation and given fuel to the false Wall Street Journal story. He owes me a public apology."

Danning Jiang, Dr. Li's United States-based attorney, added, "Retraction of a scientific article based on the absence of an acknowledgment footnote was ridiculous. There was inadequate instruction to authors by JOEM when this was submitted in 1995. The threshold and expectations on acknowledgment have since changed dramatically. I believe Brandt-Rauf applied 2006 standards to a 1995 article submission, and failed to respect cultural differences on the threshold for acknowledging minor support."

Dr. Li is currently working with her American scientific colleagues to restore her reputation and to republish the study in an American journal. Dr. Brent Kerger has been designated Dr. Li's scientific representative in the United States.

In a letter sent today to the JOEM, Mr. Jiang said, "One would expect the pursuit of truth to be a goal for all scientific publications, and yet you and JOEM have so far refused to release its copyright and allow the study to be republished elsewhere.

"In addition to a public apology and copyright release, I must insist that JOEM immediately post Dr. Li's November 26, 2006 letter citing her objections to the retraction on your website so scientists can see the full story behind the unprecedented action of retracting an article 10 years after its peer review and acceptance."

The 1997 study looked at the effect of exposure to waterborne Chromium 6 on a population near JinZhou City, Liaoning, China. It concluded that while there was an association between high cancer rates and pollution (i.e., living near a metal alloy factory), there was no specific link with oral ingestion of Chromium 6. The 1997 study clarified and further analyzed the data from a brief 1987 summary of the pollution incident also co-authored by Dr. Zhang. The data, compiled from 1970 to 1978, was first reported in a 1979 study as an internal Chinese government report authored by Dr. Zhang.

"Dr. Li fully stands behind the integrity of both the data and findings of the 1997 study she coauthored with Dr. Zhang," Mr. Jiang said today in his letter to the JOEM. "As the surviving coauthor of the study, she is the only person who can report first hand about how the study was written. Everything else is mere after-the-fact speculation."

In published news reports, the initial Wall Street Journal story has been credited by Mr. Thomas V. Girardi, lead attorney for the plaintiffs', as being the driving force behind PG&E's February, 2006 decision to settle a California lawsuit known as "Erin Brockovich II" for $295 million. Mr. Girardi took credit for the Wall Street Journal story, which he said was largely based on information that his team had gathered, according to the San Francisco Daily Journal, "Plaintiff: PG&E Settled Rather Than Look Bad,", February 7, 2006. "But for the fact that we had the ability and the incentive to go to China to get all this information and expose it, this case probably never would have settled," Mr. Girardi said. The Wall Street Journal story does not mention or refer to Mr. Girardi or his team.

For additional information, please contact David Lundy, Aileron Communications. 312.629.9400 or [e-mail]