OTTAWA - Ranjit Kumar Chandra, a former researcher at Memorial University in St. John's who has been accused of scientific fraud, has been stripped of his membership in the Order of Canada.
Chandra was made an officer of the order, the second-highest level in the honour system, in December 1989.
The announcement of the loss of his status was published in this week's Canada Gazette, although the order was made in early December.
Last fall, the BMJ -- formerly the British Medical Journal -- retracted a 1989 Chandra paper about the role of breastfeeding and formula in infant eczema after the data involved was questioned.
The journal called the case a major failure of scientific governance.
In July 2015, Chandra lost a libel suit against the CBC over a 2006 three-part documentary that examined allegations of fraud against the researcher.
