It is a psychiatric disorder characterised by the need to fake a disease or trauma to draw attention or compassion. This disorder affects all social groups; no-one is immune...
Munchhausen syndrome is a psychiatric disorder characterised by the need to fake a disease or trauma to draw attention or compassion. This disorder affects all social groups; no-one is immune. Yet it is without doubt the research community which has the highest prevalence, and its impact there is increasing rapidly. As proof, we need only take as an example the level of interest shown by certain European research groups in Tropical Race 4 Panama Disease, which affects banana plants. If we take them at their word, this disease, described in 1990 and present in Asia and more recently Africa (Mozambique), has an infectious potential capable of wiping the Cavendish banana plant off the map almost instantly: which would equate to 63 million tonnes of bananas (47 % of worldwide production), some 20 million tonnes of which is exported. The media, always on the lookout for a really trashy scoop, dramatic announcements and apocalyptic news, are fuelling the syndrome of these disturbed scientists. Would it not be better to give them the care they need, rather than leave them to dig themselves deeper into these pronouncements worthy of millenarians?
That is, unless these outrageous pronouncements are being made on purpose. Indeed, some are starting to think that it is for base material reasons that scientists feel the urge to wave the red rag. They need to provoke tears among the general public, announce the end of the world and depict as bleak a future as possible to convince backers to fund juicy research programmes. Yet I refuse to believe in this theory, which would be in complete opposition to many of the principles listed in the scientist’s oath, the researchers’ version of the Hippocratic Oath. Rule number 8 could not be clearer: “I undertake to pursue the search for truth with a full focus on expressing a critical mind, and on complying with professional ethics in the use of information and communication media.”
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