'Expertise side-lined: science, fraud and bogus molecular detectors in the Mexican ‘War on Drugs’
The
paper presents a summarised chronology of the controversy surrounding
the use of fraudulent handheld molecular detectors in Mexico, as well as
the responses to the controversy from three critical sectors: the
Mexican media, the different government branches and national scientific
institutions. The paper also includes interview material with the most
prominent critics and of the molecular detectors in Mexico and compares
the voices of ‘scientific activists’ with the institutional responses.
Finally, an analysis of all these different responses to the controversy
is made, along with a short discussion of the relevance for expertise
studies, as well as a critique of the application of existing expertise
frameworks in developing country contexts such as Mexico’s.'
For the full paper please see HERE
Due to the academic constraints of a lack of primary sources, the paper does not cover the issue of bribery and corruption by the sellers and buyers of the fake 'detectors'. An issue which we will return to in the future.
We look forward to further work by Luis on this issue, and we hope that this paper, and other efforts by the likes of Andres Tonini, will finally bring an end to the use of the useless 'detectors' in Mexico and elsewhere.
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