NIH: Notes on Invalid Kratom Study
| Submitted | Jan. 27, 2017 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: anthony roberts
To Whom It May Concern:
This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:
In January of 2017, the National Institutes of Health published in the U.S. Library of Medicine a study on kratom titled "Is Kratom the New 'Legal High' on the Block?: The Case of an Emerging Opioid Receptor Agonist with Substance Abuse Potential," authored by Chang-Chien GC, Odonkor CA, and Amorapanth P. The journal citation is listed as "Pain Physician. 2017 Jan-Feb;20(1):E195-E198.," and the PMID is 28072812. The work itself is incorrectly listed as a "case study," contains editing notes in the text of the body as well as in the references (including the editor's note that at least one reference is nonexistent), and draws numerous invalid conclusions, often contradicting the cited references. I am seeking all processing notes, emails, memorandums, and correspondences, related to the submission and publication of this study in the U.S. Library of Medicine, as well as notes related to its being indexed on Pubmed.com.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes. I am a professional member of the media and request that fees be waived.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
anthony roberts
From: Minneman, Kim (NIH/NHLBI) [E]
Dear Mr. Roberts:
Please see the attached acknowledgement letter regarding your FOIA request for NLM records.
Sincerely,
Ms. Kim L. Minneman
Government Information Specialist
Freedom of Information Act Service Center
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
National Institutes of Health
Direct Phone 301-827-6263
Main Office Phone 301-496-9737
From: Minneman, Kim (NIH/NHLBI) [E]
Dear Mr. Roberts:
Please see the attachment in response to your FOIA request for NLM records.
Sincerely,
Ms. Kim L. Minneman
Government Information Specialist
Freedom of Information Act Service Center
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
National Institutes of Health
Direct Phone 301-827-6263
Main Office Phone 301-496-9737
From: anthony roberts
Just so we are clear, is your response that this study was published to (i.e. posted online and indexed with a link to the source material) the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) that the National Institutes of Health maintains, and not a single person at any government agency actually verified that the study was in fact a completed study, or even read the full text?
From: Minneman, Kim (NIH/NHLBI) [E]
Dear Mr. Roberts:
Thank you for your email. Under the FOIA, we do not answer questions about the information/records that are created but we do provide responsive records when they are available. One of our duties is to conduct a complete search for responsive records. We did this within the National Library of Medicine. The article states that "There was no external funding in the preparation of this manuscript." Therefore, NIH did not provide grant funding. We have no knowledge of who might have been part of a review or peer review process, whichever is used by the journal itself. Questions about the review process would need to be addressed to the journal itself, which is a separate entity from the government. In addition, we are unable to answer questions about other Federal agencies.
Sincerely,
Kim Minneman
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~WRD000
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