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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine | 5/5 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Academy_of_Anti-Aging_Medicine | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T09:16:49.995978+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== Dispute with Olshansky and Perls === In 2002, A4M was a co-recipient of the first "Silver Fleece Award", created to publicize "the most ridiculous claims about antiaging medicine" according to the award's inventor, S. Jay Olshansky. Heated legal and academic controversies ensued. Olshansky, a biodemographer at the University of Illinois at Chicago, described it as "a lighthearted attempt to make the public aware of ... anti-aging quackery". This "award" was presented by Olshansky, who stated that in his opinion, a "suite of anti-aging substances created by Ronald Klatz and Robert Goldman ... and sold on the Internet by Market America, Inc." had made "outrageous or exaggerated claims about slowing or reversing human aging". Writing in Biogerontology, anthropologist Courtney Mykytyn of the University of Southern California states that this award appears to have been an attempt by Olshansky to protect what he saw as "'real' science from the taint of swindle." Mykytyn states that this involved Olshansky "tagging the A4M as fraudulent and its principals as profiteers". In response, the academy filed defamation lawsuits, demanding $150 million in damages, with Klatz stating "We take great exception to Mr Olshansky and his tactics which have finally compelled us to file suit for various unprofessional and improper actions". Klatz and Goldman described this action as "part of a larger campaign of disparagement by Olshansky and Perls aimed at discrediting A4M and its founders". The Chicago Tribune quoted experts on libel law who stated that the action was an "almost unheard-of attempt to punish academics for comments made in their professional capacity". CNN states that Olshansky countersued and that "both sides eventually agreed to drop their cases". The Chicago Tribune states that the case "ended in a settlement, with neither side paying damages or the other's costs." In 2002, Olshansky, Hayflick, and Carnes published a position paper, endorsed by 51 scientists in the field of aging, stating that "no currently marketed intervention has yet been proved to slow, stop or reverse human aging...The entrepreneurs, physicians and other health care practitioners who make these claims are taking advantage of consumers who cannot easily distinguish between the hype and reality of interventions designed to influence the aging process and age-related diseases". In 2009, Imre Zs-Nagy of the University of Debrecen, Hungary, defended A4M from what he called the "gerontological establishment" in an editorial published in Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, a journal Zs-Nagy founded and of which he is editor-in-chief. Zs-Nagy defended therapies promoted by A4M, which he states are related to his own "membrane hypothesis of aging", as theoretically feasible. He described the conflict between the scientific community and the academy as one pitting government funds, "personal gain" and "intellectual dishonesty" against the "independent, open-minded approach" of A4M, calling the conflict one of the "biggest scandals of the recent history of medicine".
== See also == Maximum life span ApothéCure Inc. Strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP Suits) List of organizations opposing mainstream science
== References ==
== External links == A4M.com Official website Newspaper articles A Drug's Promise (or Not) of Youth Los Angeles Times Holding back the years with a little passion Daily Telegraph Holding back the years: Scientists say extended youth may be near The Seattle Times Selling The Promise Of Youth Business Week Academic and governmental Olshansky, S. Jay; Leonard Hayflick; Bruce A. Carnes (June 19, 2002). "Position Statement on Human Aging". Science of Aging Knowledge Environment. 2002 (24): pe9. doi:10.1126/sageke.2002.24.pe9. Retrieved September 14, 2009. Beware of Health Scams National Institute on Aging Can We Prevent Aging? National Institute on Aging