Recent highly publicized cases of “scientific fraud” have elicited much excited comment. We hear cries for watchdogs and oversight committees. We read perturbed editorials speaking of a scientific Watergate. But let's put the situation in perspective and avoid creating something worse than the disease – a cure.

In science, as elsewhere, lying, cheating, stealing, and fraud are distinctly unpleasant. Because scientists are human, one must anticipate that in their daily as well as their scientific activities, they will occasionally stray. What is surprising is our surprise. I recall my mother pointing out to me, a hopeful teenage scientist, an embarrassing situation in which scientists were involved. My smart-aleck response was, “So what? Everybody does it.” “But,” she responded, “these are scientists.”

Well, the fact is that scientists do it, too. Under pressure for promotions, grants and the necessity to publish, we can be “reasonably assured” that corners are cut, work is sometimes sloppy and, occasionally, I suppose, there is deliberate fraud.