Delayed Results
The confectionery industry donated huge sums of money and tons of chocolates and caramels to fund the experiments. Because the experiments had shown a clear link between sugar intake and dental caries, the industry was not pleased with the results, and the researchers delayed their publication. When the study was finally made public in 1953, a critical debate arose about why they had been held back for so long.
The scientists were accused of having been bought by the industry. However, at the time there was not any public debate about the ethics of the experiments themselves. Modern attitudes in the dental profession are very different: a participant in the Vipeholm Study, B. Krasse, writes "It is obvious that a research ethics committee would not accept a project like the Vipeholm Study today." He explains "The need for the study was obvious to us as dentists" and states that the Swedish Parliament and then the news media debated the ethics of the study as early as 1953.
Read more about this topic: Vipeholm Experiments
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