Some key U.S. Geological Survey laboratories remain vulnerable to plagiarism, fraud or other breaches of scientific integrity, the Interior Department’s internal watchdogs warn in an assessment made public Thursday.
In an audit prompted by several past USGS lab scandals, Interior’s Office of Inspector General cited “continuing deficiencies” in the quality management system that’s supposed to keep the agency’s nearly 500 labs operating on the level. The consequences, the OIG auditors warn, could be severe if bad actors or untrustworthy data can slip through the cracks.
“Because scientific results, studies, and products from USGS are used by different parties in the U.S. Government and the public, breaches of scientific integrity have significant impacts throughout the scientific community,” the OIG reported noted. “Indeed, even a single breach can jeopardize others’ ability to rely on years of scientific research produced by the laboratory in question.”
In early 2021, for instance, the USGS revealed that a water analyst at its National Water Quality Laboratory in Lakewood, Colorado, had falsified thousands of test results for more than a year. The lab specializes in chemical analyses of water, sediment and tissue, and receives an annual average of almost 39,000 samples and produces about 1.8 million results.
