The lead author of a now-retracted research note that claimed children masks trapped dangerously high concentrations of carbon dioxide has said that JAMA Pediatrics’ decision to pull the paper was politically motivated.
The research note, “Experimental Assessment of Carbon Dioxide Content in Inhaled Air With or Without Face Masks in Healthy Children: A Randomized Clinical Trial,” authored by Harald Walach and colleagues, was published in June. Based on measurements of carbon dioxide in air inhaled by 45 children between six and 17 years of age, the study found that children wearing face masks were inhaling carbon dioxide levels “deemed unacceptable by the German Federal Environmental Office by a factor of 6.” The researchers concluded that their findings “suggest that children should not be forced to wear face masks.”
JAMA Pediatrics retracted the research letter on July 16. In a retraction notice, Dr. Dmitri Christakis and Dr. Phil Fontanarosa cited “numerous scientific issues” raised about the study methodology, including concerns whether the proper device was used to measure carbon dioxide levels and if the measurements were an accurate reflection of carbon dioxide levels in inhaled air, along with “issues related to the validity of the study conclusions.”
“In their invited responses to these and other concerns, the authors did not provide sufficiently convincing evidence to resolve these issues, as determined by editorial evaluation and additional scientific review,” Christakis and Pontanarosa wrote.
“Given fundamental concerns about the study methodology, uncertainty regarding the validity of the findings and conclusions, and the potential public health implications, the editors have retracted this Research Letter,” they added.
But Walach, who holds a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Basel, Switzerland, told Just The News in an emailed statement that JAMA did not specify how he failed “to provide sufficiently convincing evidence” to back his conclusions.
“I would actually also like to see how those conclusions were reached, but I am afraid that…
Read full story here: Author of Retracted Study on Harm of Mask-Wearing by Children Says Removal Was ‘Political’