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Paper on microplastics in fish is retracted
Summary
This news article reported on the retraction of a high-profile Science paper claiming that polystyrene microplastics from personal care products could inhibit hatching, stunt growth, and increase predation in perch, after investigators raised concerns about missing data and irregularities in how the study was conducted. The retraction serves as a cautionary case study for the importance of rigorous methodology and data transparency in microplastic toxicology research.
Last June, C&EN covered a paper in Science showing that polystyrene microplastics from personal care products ingested by perch could “inhibit hatching, stunt growth, and boost predation” of the fish (2016, DOI: 10.1126/science.aad8828). The paper has now been retracted. After Oona Lönnstedt and Peter Eklöv of Uppsala University published the study, seven researchers filed a complaint with Uppsala, claiming missing data, statistical design and analysis problems, and discrepancies between how the researchers said they carried out the study and eyewitness accounts of the experiments. A university-convened panel of researchers concluded on Aug. 31 that no evidence of research misconduct existed. At about the same time, Lönnstedt and Eklöv reported that a computer containing data from the study had been stolen and there was no backup. The university also asked Sweden’s Central Ethical Review Board to consider the complaint. On April 21, the board decided that the authors’ responses to questions