Whenever I develop a little egotism about my sophistication, I encounter someone like you. THANKS for this piece; I learned a lot. Re Goldacre: "There is nothing so strongly fortified that it cannot be taken with money" --Cicero

And "You see there is a famous principle in law (e.g. US v Throckmorton) known as “Fraud vitiates everything”. It means that if someone lies about something, or uses false information that they pass off as real, then the presumption falls that any information derived from that is also false (or fraudulent)."

Your message is one of hope: in a day when everything seems contaminated, there exist stalwart academics who insist on the truth.