Pubdate: Sun, 07 Sep 2003
Source: Tri-Valley Herald (CA)
Copyright: 2003 MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.trivalleyherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/742
Author: Randolph E. Schmid, Associated Press

LABELING ERROR BLOWS STUDY

Scientific Journal Intends to Publish Retraction

WASHINGTON -- A prestigious scientific journal is retracting a study about 
the effects of the drug Ecstasy on the brain because the animals used in 
the research were given a different drug. The researchers blamed the error 
on a labeling mix-up.

Previous studies had reported on the brain hazards of Ecstasy, and the 
researchers said the problems with their study did not call into question 
the earlier ones.

Scientists at Johns Hopkins University reported in September 2002, that key 
neurons in the brains of squirrel monkeys and baboons were damaged when the 
animals were given doses of Ecstasy that mimicked those often taken by 
users of the drug during all-night dance parties.

The researchers said the study raised questions about whether Ecstasy -- 
also known as MDMA -- might hasten the onset of Parkinson's disease, a 
disorder triggered by the permanent loss of dopamine-producing nerve cells. 
It was those nerve cells that were reported to have been damaged by Ecstasy 
in the Johns Hopkins research.

In retracting the story, the journal Science said Friday that the 
researchers discovered that labels on drugs supplied to them by an outside 
company were incorrect and the animals had actually been given a different 
drug, methamphetamine.

Methamphetamine would be expected to produce the brain damage seen in the 
animals, the researchers said in their retraction.

Ecstasy is methylenedioxymethamphetamine. Both are forms of amphetamine but 
with different added chemicals and chemical action, said researcher Dr. Una 
McCann.

She explained that a bottle of MDMA and a bottle of methamphetamine were 
delivered to the lab the same day, from the same supplier, for different 
research purposes.

When the researchers had trouble duplicating some of their work they began 
to suspect problems, she explained. They had the bottle labeled 
methamphetamine analyzed by three labs and all reported it was pure MDMA -- 
and the brains of two animals that had died following the experiment were 
found to contain methamphetamine, not MDMA.

"It's a difficult situation ... We pick up where we left off and see what 
we can do to prevent this from happening again, and we correct the record," 
McCann said. She said the laboratory has developed a secure method in 
future studies to ensure the using of the actual drug called for. 
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