The found no impact of bisphenol A treatment and no impact of exposure to diethylstilbestrol. They concluded that their failure to replicate vom Saal exonerated bisphenol A, and prominently promoted this conclusion to the press. Industry lawyer Jim Lamb was even quoted in the British science journal, Nature, to this effect. Unfortunately, the press release unwittingly damned their effort, at least for the informed reader, revealing that their failure to replicate was more likely due to an incompetent laboratory. By acknowledging that their positive control had failed, they acknowledged that their experiments were invalid.
Scientists use positive controls to demonstrate they can perform the experimental procedure.
Positive controls should yield positive results. The fact that they found no positive impact of DES casts doubt on their competency. Interestingly, the Toxicological Sciences publication of the result no longer refers to the DES work as a positive control. These appear more like damage control than substance . Saal's work became especially heated at the Japanese meeting in Kyoto in 1998.