Investigation
The American Anthropological Association has since made stern statements concerning the proper conduct for anthropologists in the field. The book was examined and many of Tierney's claims challenged by various panels of historians, epidemiologists, anthropologists, and filmmakers who had direct knowledge of the events soon after its publication.
A detailed investigation of these charges by a panel set up by the University of Michigan found the most serious charges to have no foundation and others to have been exaggerated. Sponsel and Turner, the two scientists who originally touted the book's claims, admitted that their charge against Neel "remains an inference in the present state of our knowledge: there is no 'smoking gun' in the form of a written text or recorded speech by Neel." Alice Dreger, an historian of medicine and science, concluded after a year of research that Tierney's claims were false and the American Anthropological Association was complicit and irresponsible in helping spread these falsehoods and not protecting "scholars from baseless and sensationalistic charges".
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