I agree that the title is pure clickbait, I disagree that the article completely divorces itself from the premise the title implies. This whole thing where science journalism drums up this huge controversy after the fact when enough science on a topic has been performed to think that maybe a particular explanation is a bad one is a symptom of organizations that have to drum up a saucy narrative to sell.
It is perfectly natural to fund science that seems like a good idea at the time, and not fund ideas that seem less plausible than the prevailing explanation, and while it does suck that it takes a while to overturn the idea that the idea is good, representing our 20/20 hindsight as some irredeemable inertia with conspiracist overtones is a big problem.
The title isn’t “pure clickbait” although a little hyperbolic. I worked in a research laboratory in a top medical school in the US. The professor in charge of the lab was an amyloid sceptic, and the existence of this sort of “cabal” was apparent, at least to him. Words like “delusional” were thrown around. This was 7 years ago!
Also, considering the actual harm caused, i don’t think you can be hyperbolic enough about this issue..
It is perfectly natural to fund science that seems like a good idea at the time, and not fund ideas that seem less plausible than the prevailing explanation, and while it does suck that it takes a while to overturn the idea that the idea is good, representing our 20/20 hindsight as some irredeemable inertia with conspiracist overtones is a big problem.