They do not have the right to buy prestigious properties or even to indulge in a spritz at the bar, much less to affirm – data in hand – the effectiveness of a vaccine or the ineffectiveness of an old drug. Whether it is private events, such as homes or aperitifs, or their work as researchers, it does not matter: there are very few virologists, immunologists, infectious diseases, Covid experts of all backgrounds who in the past two years have suffered harassment and threats from those who various titles, indeed without any title, he did not agree with them.
But the phenomenon of attacks on scientists during the pandemic is not an Italian fact, so much so that Science News has just published an article with the evocative title, “On the Line of Fire,” which reports data from a survey of attacks on scientists over the past two years. Cathleen O’Gradythe author of the piece, says that although the attack on researchers is not a disease grown in the shadow of Covid, since those involved in science have been victims of harassment and attacks for years, this pandemic has made things worse.
Covid. Against fake news, philosophers in the classroom
by Daniela Minerva
The Science poll: 38% were attacked
“When scientific news became the biggest news in the world in March 2020, scientists became household names, even celebrities overnight,” writes O’Grady. “But many have also become targets of new and extreme levels of harassment, intimidation and threats. UK Chief Medical Adviser Chris Whitty he was accosted by two men in a London park; the disease ecologist Peter Daszak from the EcoHealth Alliance received a letter containing white powder that resembled anthrax; The Belgian virologist Marc Van Ranst and his family were transferred to a shelter after being threatened by a former soldier who was later found dead in a national park. “
Now, to better understand the level of intimidation, its effects and how scientists deal with it, Science asked 9,585 researchers who have published studies on Covid-19 to fill out an online survey about their experiences. Of the 510 researchers who responded to the appeal, the majority did not report any negative experiences, a small minority experienced heavy levels of harassment. But as many as 38% reported at least one type of attack.
Attacks on competence
More often it was personal insults and attacks on one’s competence (95%) or integrity (74%), then there were death wishes (32%), threats of violence and death (18%), the doxxing (the practice of publicly seeking and disseminating personal information online with the aim of harming).
Less common (fortunately) were contacts with the attackers. These numbers, while worrying, are still lower than those obtained from a survey by Nature last October. According to that research, 81% of 321 Covid-19 scientists who had spoken to the media, and therefore were known to the public, were victims of personal attacks at least occasionally (Science interviewed Covid researchers with and without exposure. to the media).
Career-long harassment
Also the ASSS, American Association for the Advancement of Science, which is the publisher of Science, conducted an investigation into attacks on scientists, but in this case the questionnaire did not ask questions about the past two years but about the entire career of the researchers. Harassment was also more frequent in this case: in fact, 51% of respondents (out of 44 thousand AAAS members) reported having received at least one type of harassment, which sometimes lasted for decades.
“Although they cannot directly compare with the Covid-19 survey which has only examined the last 2 years, the results [di AAAS] however, indicate that the harassment is not new and that it is not limited to Covid-19 “, writes O’Grady who recalls, for example, how for those who work in fields such as climate science and research that uses animals, the stories of scientists Covid probably sound familiar Michael mana climatologist at Pennsylvania State University, who has faced decades of attacks.
More than 50% new
But the pandemic has made matters worse. More than half of the researchers who said they had been harassed said it was a new experience and a further 31% that the pandemic exacerbated a problem they had already experienced.
Because? There are at least a couple of reasons, quite obvious: the first, O’Grady recalls, is that Covid has expanded the audience of these men and women of science, many and many of whom have entered the public sphere for the first time. , have appeared on TV, in the paper press, etc. And then because Covid entered history at a time when the polarization between social groups and on more or less crucial issues within our societies was already strong. Even non-scientists who work in sectors even very distant from that of science are victims of digital attacks, even very violent ones.
The loneliness of the researchers
22% of Covid-19 researchers (and 20% of AAAS members) reported that the harassment had caused at least some family or social problems. “Our survey shows that researchers who were harassed most commonly reported anxiety, fear of their reputation and loss of productivity due to the attacks. Other more extreme effects included substance abuse and stress-related illnesses.” O’Grady reports. But always the survey by Science found that less than 10% of the abused received legal (7%) or technology (8%) or protection (5%) or psychological support (6%) from employers.
A private matter. Or not?
This time around, the numbers are low, so low that some commentators say that more attention to new victims and the shocking experiences they describe could act as a stimulus for research institutions to finally pay some attention to the problem, “rather than treat it as private matters, which researchers must resolve by themselves or, worse, blaming and even punishing them for the abuses they have suffered. “