Flaw in Ecstasy StudySeptember 9, 2003
Research Summary
Claims by Johns Hopkins University researchers that one ecstasy tablet could harm humans are false, the BBC reported Sept. 8.The researchers withdrew their paper from the research journal Science after it was determined that a laboratory mistake skewed the results.
In the study, the researchers said that four out of 10 monkeys died or showed severe brain damage after being injected with a small dose of ecstasy. It was later determined that the animals were erroneously administered a much more potent amphetamine.
Colin Blakemore, a professor of physiology at Oxford University in England, said the flaw should have been obvious. "Whatever we think about the toxicity of ecstasy, 40 percent of people using it each weekend do not die," he said.
The error came to light when the researchers found no relation to earlier findings when they repeated the experiment using ecstasy in tablet form.
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