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Update (2019/5/30)
Science has
corrected their negligence. We are grateful to the journal for
their positive response and revision. The text has been changed,
and a note at the end alerts readers:
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/05/fossils-burmese-amber-offer-exquisite-view-dinosaur-times-and-ethical-minefield
*Update, 29 May, 12:20 p.m.: This story
has been updated to reflect the current ownership of the snake
in amber specimen:
Xiao and DIP have arranged for the institute to own that
specimen, but it is loaned back to Xiao until 2027.
I hope that DIP can
maintain good cooperative relations with scientists and
journals. If you have any suggestions or comments, please do not
hesitate to contact us.
Mr. RAN Hao
Director of DIP
2019/5/30
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A Solemn Declaration from
DIP (2019/5/26)
The DIP has noted that Science
published Sokol, J., 2019. Troubled
treasure. Science 364 (6442): 722-729. DOI:
10.1126/science.364.6442.722. We are grateful to Science
for its interest in Burmese amber. However, some of these
statements are clearly not true, and these claims have seriously
affected the reputation of the Institute. We express strong
dissatisfaction and firm opposition to it.
1, "Xing flies to the nearby major city of Kunming, China, to meet
with Xiao Jia, a wealthy private collector and online dealer who
lent him that first snake in a piece of amber for study." and "
as well as on the Amber snake, now housed in an exhibit in the
back of Xiao's toy store in a Kunming mall."
According to the agreement between DIP and Jia Xiao,
the snake specimen
(DIP-S-0907) has been donated to DIP by Jia Xiao. As
part of the agreement, DIP lends the specimen to a Jia's private
museum for a period of 10 years (2018-2027). During this time,
any scientist can apply to observe/scan this specimen, please
contact DIP directly.
2, "If one day Myanmar gets peace, and they want to build a museum for
amber or build a museum for natural history, [Xing's own
institute] would love to return all the specimens to Myanmar,"
he says. "It's not going To come free. But yeah, we'd love to
return them.""
Dr. Xing Lida is the initiator of DIP, and we appreciate it. Currently,
Xing is the visiting fellow of vertebrate Department.
But DIP is definitely
not "Xing's own institute". Any decision of the DIP will
be determined jointly by the funder and the scientist community.
This does not mean that we refuse to return the specimens. This
declaration just stressed that the DIP is not "Xing's own
institute".
For these untrue situations, we have already entrusted a lawyer to handle
it. For further inquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us
at dexu@vip.qq.com
Mr. RAN Hao
Director of DIP
2019/5/26 |
