p hology - P Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00789R003800370001-0 PARAPSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, INC. P.O, Box 12236 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 Contact: Dr. Dean Radin, Princeton University, 609-987-2930 — PRESS RELEASE —. A NCI P VI N ASSESSMENT OF PARAPSYCHOLOGY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — The President of the Parapsychological Association, Dr. Dean I. Radin, has released a report responding to the National Research Council's (NRC) recent assessment of parapsychology, commissioned by the US Army. The NRC Committee concluded that there was “no scientific justification from research conducted over a period of 130 years for the existence of parapsychological phenomena.” The Parapsychological Association, an affiliate of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, states in its report that the NRC conclusion was biased through blatant suppression of evidence, including an attempt to delete favorable passages in a paper commissioned by the NRC itself. Specifically, the Parapsychological Association's report reveals that (1) The two principal evaluators of parapsychology for the NRC Committee have had a long- standing, public committment against parapsychology, while scientists with more favorable opinions were excluded from the Committee. This is in direct violation of the NRC's stated policy of assigning members to committees “with regard to appropriate balance.” (2) The NRC report systematically omits findings favorable to parapsychology but quotes liberally from two background papers that support the Committee's position. More disturbing, it has been learned that the Chairman of the NRC Committee actually called one of the authors of a background paper that was favorable to parapsychology and asked him to withdraw his positive conclusions. (More) Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00789R003800370001-0
4 Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00789RUU3 400370089 20 (3) In spite of the Committee’s prejudice against parapsychology, and in spite of its attempt to suppress favorable expert opinion, the report is self-contradictory. The Committee concluded that there was no evidence for parapsychological phenomena, yet by its own admission it could offer no plausible alternatives to much of the research it surveyed. Moreover, the Committee recommended that the Army, which paid a half a million dollars for the report, should continue to “monitor” parapsychological research being conducted at !aboratories in the United States and in the Soviet Union. The Parapsychological Association's report, co-authored by Dr. John Palmer, Institute for Parapsychology, Durham, NC, Charles Honorton, Psychophysical Research Laboratories, Princeton, NJ, and Dr. Jessica Utts, University of California, Davis, CA, also listed classes of psi effects repeatedly demonstrated in laboratory studies, and included several examples of applications of psi phenomena of potential interest to national security. ~30- Note: The press kit includes (a) this press release, (b) a letter to Dr. Frank Press (President of the National Academy of Sciences) and (c) the Parapsychological Association's response to the NRC report. The Annual Convention of the Parapsychological Association will be held August 17-20, 1988, at Le Nouvel Hotel, Montreal, Canada. Among the scheduled events is a panel discussion on the NRC report by the authors of the Parapsychological Association report. , For more information about the Parapsychologica!l Association convention, contact Mrs. Laura Knipe at 212-247-7847 or Patrice Keane at 212-799-5050. Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00789R003800370001-0
Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00789R003800370001-0 “The gist of this type of criticism is that test tubes should be clean when doing careful and important scientific research. To the extent that the test tubes were dirty, it is suggested that the experiment was not carried out according to acceptable scientific standards. Consequently, the results remain suspect even though the critic cannot demonstrate that the dirt in the test tubes was sufficient to have produced the outcome...” (p. 199-200). In other words, the Committee could think of no scientific explanation for the selected studies that they reviewed. Parapsychologists often refer to these unexplained anomalies as psi phenomena. Considering the NRC Committee’s bias against the phenomena studied, their admission of finding no plausible alternatives must be taken as a compelling endorsement of the existence of anomalous effects. In conclusion, we believe that the NRC’s findings about parapsychological phenomena are wrong — anomalous effects that cannot be explained by prevailing scientific models continue to be demonstrated, repeatedly, in laboratory studies. Dean I. Radin, Ph.D. President, Parapsychological Association, Inc. Sincerely, Department of Psychology, Green Hall Princeton University Princeton, NJ 08544 Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00789R003800370001-0