The ‘‘scientific community’’ is a broad and inappropriately encompassing term, but to the extent such a thing exists as a social or public entity (apart from the research literature), it is fair to say it pronounced Watson’s claims not only false, but also outside the bounds of appropriate scientific discourse. For instance, the Science Museum in London responded by canceling Watson’s speaking engagement, saying:
‘‘We know that eminent scientists can sometimes say things that cause controversy and the Science Museum does not shy away from debating controversial topics… However, the Science Museum feels that Nobel Prize winner James Watson’s recent comments have gone beyond the point of acceptable debate and we are as a result cancelling his talk at the museum’’ [4, my emphasis].
Watson’s claim was that intelligence testing shows lower intelligence scores in Africa than Europe. Francis Collins, Watson’s successor over the Human Genome Project, released a statement asserting the claim is not true:
‘‘I am deeply saddened by the events of the last week, and understand and agree with Dr. Watson’s undoubtedly painful decision to retire in the aftermath of a racist statement he made that was both profoundly offensive and utterly unsupported by scientific evidence’’ [5, my emphasis].[Source: James Watson tells the inconvenient truth, faces the consequences]