"I have been involved with breast cancer research since 1958 and was part of the group which founded NSABP [National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project]. I have devoted my entire life to science, clinical trials, and efforts to help women . . . but never have I felt such anxiety about what to say and do about this presentation. . . .

"You're all familiar with l'affaire Poisson. . . . We've been accused of delay in reporting falsifications to the NCI. Not true. Delay in publication of analysis and notification of editors and members of the NSABP. Not true. There was no--at that time or now--due process to answer such charges. And there were no rules to guide us. . . .

"If there was such a breach, then it involved the NCI, the NIH, and the ORI [Office of Research Integrity], who knew everything that we did and who could have stepped forward at any time and notified patients and physicians about this whole affair.

"We were accused of publishing papers with data from St. Luc. The answer is yes, we did, because there are scientific and biological justifications for doing so. The biostatisticians are the ones who govern this kind of thing, since it relates to very sophisticated analytical procedures.

False Accusations

"We've been accused of delay in reporting deaths due to endometrial cancer. False. We've been accused of knowing about a problem of falsifications at another Canadian hospital for 6 months and not reporting it. False.

"I've been accused of holding an ICI [Imperial Chemical Industries, makers of tamoxifen] professorship at the University of Pittsburgh. False.

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