Professional Responsibility for Spreading Unscientific Knowledge: The Case of the “Ease of Conception” Graph in a Supplementary High School Textbook

Abstract

The government of Japan and professionals from the fields of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive medicine used a graph exaggerating the decline in women's fecundity, professing it begins a sharp linear descent in their mid-20s. It was used in a campaign to promote "accurate" knowledge about the suitable age range for pregnancy and was published in a supplementary textbook of health education for high schools in 2015. The author criticizes the use of the graph as well as the use of other unreliable research findings in the campaign that has resulted in the spread of unscientific knowledge in Japan today. [Translation from an author manuscript in Japanese for Trends in the Sciences 22(8):18-23 (August 2017)]