2018, Number 4
The enigma of US diplomats’ health symptoms in Havana: Call for a global scientific meeting
Velázquez-Pérez L
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Language: English
References: 3
Page: 48-48
PDF size: 158.85 Kb.
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In today’s globalized world, scientific endeavor and its conclusions rest more than ever on dialogue and the ability to critically assess a full and transparent array of evidence, to maximize opportunities for accuracy and truth to prevail.But such a normal, essential and prudent process has not been followed in the case of the health incidents reported by US diplomats in Havana in 2017. Instead, we see transparency and open scientific discussion hampered by lack of access to vital information, as well as publication of methodologically faulty research, analysis and unsubstantiated conclusions. For want of a thorough scientific approach, the essential questions remain unanswered, and those reporting symptoms still have no real explanation for their experience.
As President of the Cuban Academy of Sciences, I am surrounded by some of the best minds in Cuba. As in other nations, our mission is to advise government agencies and maintain links with counterparts and others in the global scientific community based on the premise that sharing and communicating knowledge contributes to the well-being of all our peoples.
For nearly 20 years, I directed the Center for Hereditary Ataxias Research and Rehabilitation in the eastern province of Holguín, an institution that accumulated notable successes nationally and internationally, in large part due to the priority accorded health by the Cuban government and its universal public health system. Research was the cornerstone of such advances, which depended on national and international scientific cooperation. Our scientists trained with others from the USA, Canada, Germany, France and other countries. Together, we organized events, published papers, examined and treated patients, and created networks of collaborators, mainly with researchers in the USA and Cuba, based on open exchange without ideological prejudice.
REFERENCES
Swanson RL II, Hampton S, Green-McKenzie J, Diaz-Arrastia R, Grady MS, Verma R, et al. Neurological manifestations among US government personnel reporting directional audible and sensory phenomena in Havana, Cuba. JAMA [Internet]. 2018 [cited 2018 Oct 16];319(11):1125–33. Available from: https:// jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2673168