In July and November 1989, Nature published papers critical of cold fusion which
cast the idea of cold fusion out of mainstream science.[8][9]
In November, a special panel formed by the Energy Research Advisory Board (under a charge of the US Department of Energy) reported the result of their investigation into cold fusion. The scientists in the panel
found the evidence for cold fusion to be unconvincing.
As 1989 wore on, cold fusion was considered by mainstream scientists to be
self-deception, experimental error and even fraud, and was held out as a prime example of pseudoscience. The United States Patent and Trademark Office has rejected most patent applications related to cold fusion since then....
...A second session started the next day with other negative reports, and 8 of the 9 leading speakers said that they ruled the Utah claim as dead. Dr. Steven E. Koonin of Caltech called the Utah report a result of
"the incompetence and delusion of Pons and Fleischmann". The audience of scientists sat in stunned silence for a moment before bursting into applause. Dr. Douglas R. O. Morrison, a physicist representing CERN, called the entire episode an example of
pathological science.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_fusion
