2.17 Self-teaching question (4) (continued)

When investigating a claim such as for a new disease treatment, you may also wish to perform the following steps (adapted from SciDev.Net training materials available online at [ http://www.itrainonline.org/itrainonline/mmtk/hivaids.shtml ]):

Look for further information around the claim, scientist or company, using a general search engine such as Google. This will produce articles written previously about the company and its claims, and may locate the company's own website, with press releases and information about key staff members. You can check their credentials and affiliations.
Go to the New Mexico AIDS Info Net fact sheet 206 titled "How to spot HIV/AIDS Fraud" for tips on what to look for. [ http://www.aidsinfonet.org/articles.php?articleID=206 ]
See also some examples of "AIDS related Quackery and Fraud" cited at Quackwatch. [ http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/aids.html ]
Search for independent experts who can provide outside comment on the claims. Local universities, research institutes, funding agencies, hospitals, government departments or NGOs may be able to recommend scientific experts who are willing to talk to the media.
Alternatively, you may find experts via their publications on a similar topic, on PubMed [ http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=PubMed ] or through a clinical trials database (for example at the HIV Prevention Trials Network [ http://www.hptn.org ], the HIV Vaccine Trials Network [ http://www.hvtn.org ], or AIDS Info [http://www.aidsinfo.nih.gov ]).
Another route would be to visit websites of conferences covering the topic concerned, and see who has chaired or spoken at symposia on the topic. Their abstracts may be available online.