In the News: Impersonating Doctors, Doctor?

I'm a little late with this one but I have been on vacation.....Chemical and Engineering News (CEN) reported on March 10, 2008, the following:

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/86/i10/8610notw1.html

Scientists in Germany with U.S. Ph.D.s face charges for posing as 'Dr.'

AT LEAST SEVEN U.S.-educated scientists working at the Max Planck Society's (MPS) prestigious research institutes in Germany have faced or are facing criminal charges for impersonating a "Dr." The maximum penalty for this crime is one year in jail.

It didn't take long for the MSM (main stream media) to pick up the story and run with it. CEN reported on March 17, 2008 that Germany education ministers have begun to back down and allow US researchers to use their titles.

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/86/i11/8611notw7.html

However, what has been described as a cultural misunderstanding by some, has been ascribed some darker motives by others. The Washington Post reported the following:

http://tinyurl.com/2ehms4

The German doctor rule has been in effect since the 1930s, but it has been only sporadically enforced in recent years.

That changed last fall, when an anonymous tipster filed a complaint with federal prosecutors against seven Americans at the prestigious Max Planck Society, which operates 80 scientific research institutes across Germany. Federal authorities forwarded the complaint to prosecutors and police in at least three states, who decided to take action.

Some have questioned why were only Americans charged as the Society hosts Ph.D. researchers from around the world--all of whom presumably use 'Dr.' as their title.

But whatever the motive of the "anonymous tipster", it is unfortunate that the Max Planck Society has a received a black eye over the matter as they do interesting and pertinent scientific work there.