American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine official response statement to February 12, 2002 "silver fleece awards target anti-aging hype" - A4M Responds

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, May, 2002

(University of Illinois News Release, February 12, 2002)

The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M) submits the following statement in response to Mr. Olshansky's statements of February 12, 2002.

Anti-aging medicine is the fastest-growing medical specialty throughout the world and is founded on the application of advanced scientific and medical technologies for the early detection, prevention, treatment, and reversal of age-related dysfunction, disorders, and diseases. It is a healthcare model promoting innovative science and research to prolong the healthy lifespan in humans. As such, anti-aging medicine is based on principles of sound and responsible medical care that are consistent with those applied in other preventive health specialties. Anti-aging medicine is scientifically based and well documented in leading medical journals.

A4M is a non-profit educational, medical organization dedicated to the scientific premise that diseases and disabilities of human aging are largely preventable, treatable, and perhaps even reversible. A4M has devoted itself to educating thousands of doctors and other professionals in the health-related field throughout the world in the area of anti-aging. A4M presents annual educational programs, written materials, and ongoing updates to keep professionals aware of the progress being made throughout the world on anti-aging medicine.

A4M disseminates information on many types of medical treatments, does not promote or endorse any specific treatment, and does not sell or endorse any commercial product. We serve as an advocate for this new science and as a conduit to physicians, scientists and the educated public who wish to benefit from the almost daily breakthroughs in biotechnology which promise both a greater quality as well as quantity of life. We continue to be committed to working to develop an ethical marketplace in which vendors and manufacturers supply independent scientific validation for all products and claims made.

In contrast, Mr. Olshansky is part of a "multi-billion dollar gerontological machine" that, without any basis in truth or fact, seeks to discredit tens of thousands of innovative, honest, world-class scientists, physicians, and health practitioners. Mr. Olshansky seems to prefer to trumpet meaningless circus-like sideshow awards accompanied by misleading and untrue statements. Mr. Olshansky is not a physician and has no medical training in aging intervention. He is a statistician and exceeds his capacity as a non-clinician. The inescapable conclusion drawn from Mr. Olshansky's action is that they are done for his own personal gain. Mr. Olshansky's denial of the value of anti-aging medicine flies in the face of thousands of published research studies validating preventive medicine, nutritional medicine, sports medicine, advanced diagnostics and early screenings, and advanced biotechnologies.

Mr. Olshansky seems to fall into the unfortunate category of marketers who have little regard for the integrity of the science of anti-aging medicine. Such salespeople look to hype recent developments in this field to sell their own products and books, some of which have questionable value and are of limited clinical worth. To combat unscrupulous marketing of nutritional and healthcare products, the A4M was the first organization to instigate three separate programs to protect the public from unsupportable activities by marketers. These include:

A4M Blue Ribbon Panel: Recently, attention has been given in the press and on Capitol Hill to the dubious claims by some who are marketing anti-aging products. A4M supports the efforts of those who seek to expose fraudulent commercial activities but also believes that there are many legitimate and beneficial anti-aging products. A4M believes that the best way to protect the public from fraudulent claims is by educating consumers. A4M also believes that the anti-aging marketplace should begin to regulate itself. To enable it to do so, A4M believes that ethical guidelines should be established for anti-aging product marketing. Accordingly, A4M has established a panel to consider and promulgate such guidelines. The committee is composed of medical ethicists, physicians, scientists and business leaders.

Consumer Education & Research Council (CERC): Established in 1999, the four-point mission of CERC is as follows:

* Expose anti-aging product marketing practices that may be misleading or deceptive

* Educate consumers about what they should expect from anti-aging healthcare products

* Create a forum for sharing anti-aging health product information

* Identify and give special recognition to the most reputable products

Advisories: In an ongoing effort to warn the public of dubious marketing efforts of fraudulent and unscrupulous vendors, the A4M regularly issues advisories at its website, The World Health Network (www.worldhealth.net). In July 2001, A4M issued an alert titled "Beware Bait-and-Switch Nutritionals: Marketing that Misrepresents Scientific Growth Hormone Research." It warned the public of misleading claims being made by nutritional HGH manufacturers and vendors whereby they confuse research validating injectable HGH replacement therapy as validating nutritional products.