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I agree with both lbonnell and Paul Grobstein.  There should be a code of ethics for scientist, but even then who's to say that there will never be scientist to break the rules.  If such a situation were to happen, like with the MMR vaccine, the public needs to be able to determine what is legitimate work and what is not.  I do not want to place all the work on the public because it is not their job to determine what is good science and what is not but they should have a basic understanding of what good and bad research is (in any field of study).  A lot of issues boil down to a lack of science education.