ZCZC
BFF-14
HEALTH-VIRUS-CYBERBULLYING-WOMEN
Three women scientists speak out against cyberbullying
PARIS, Dec 25, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Three woman scientists who have spoken to
the press about the merits of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine for
treating Covid-19 spoke out this week against cyber-bullying including death
threats targeting female colleagues.
“Women may be more prone than men to cyberbullying, which aims to denigrate
their probity and scientific competence,” they wrote in a letter published in
The Lancet on Wednesday.
They referenced scientific articles reporting “receipt of death threats and
cyber harassment in Brazil, France and Switzerland after publication of
studies that did not demonstrate clinical efficacy” for hydroxychloroquine.
“We fully support our colleagues and feel concerned by what they report,
having been victims ourselves… to varying degrees of threats of all kinds,
including violent defamatory statements, stalking and misogynistic and
gender-oriented attacks,” they wrote.
The authors are Caroline Samer, a Swiss pharmacologist, and infectious
diseases specialists Alexandra Calmy and Karine Lacombe, of Switzerland and
France respectively.
“These attacks were exclusively linked to public interventions in the
media, in which we attempted to rationally explain the current state of
knowledge on the effectiveness and safety of hydroxychloroquine in the
treatment and prevention of Covid-19,” they wrote.
“All threats directed at researchers and clinicians must be clearly and
unanimously rejected by the scientific community,” they said.
The drug, the subject of heated debate especially in France where it has
been championed by Marseille-based medical professor Didier Raoult, has long
been used to treat malaria, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.
In June the British-led Recovery trial team said that hydroxychloroquine
does nothing to reduce coronavirus mortality, a finding corroborated by the
World Health Organization.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0945 hrs