The
Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons (JPandS), until 2003 named the
Medical Sentinel,
[36][37] is the journal of the association. Its mission statement includes "… a commitment to publishing scholarly articles in defense of the practice of private medicine, the pursuit of integrity in medical research … Political correctness, dogmatism and orthodoxy will be challenged with logical reasoning, valid data and the scientific method." The publication policy of the journal states that articles are subject to a double-blind
peer-reviewprocess.
[38]
The
Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons is not listed in academic literature databases such as
MEDLINE/
PubMed or the
Web of Science. The quality and scientific validity of articles published in the
Journal have been criticized by medical experts, and some of the political and scientific viewpoints advocated by AAPS are not held by mainstream scientists and other medical groups.
[3] The U.S.
National Library of Medicine declined repeated requests from AAPS to index the journal, citing unspecified concerns.
[3] Quackwatch lists
JPandS as an untrustworthy, non-recommended periodical.
[39] An editorial in
Chemical & Engineering News described
JPandS as a "purveyor of utter nonsense."
[40]Investigative journalist Brian Deer wrote that the journal is the "house magazine of a right-wing American fringe group [AAPS]" and "is barely credible as an independent forum."
[41] Writing in
The Guardian, science columnist
Ben Goldacredescribed the
Journal as the "in-house magazine of a rightwing US pressure group well known for polemics on homosexuality, abortion and vaccines."
[42]
Advocacy of non-mainstream or scientifically discredited claims
Edit
Articles and commentaries published in the journal have argued a number of non-mainstream or scientifically discredited claims,
[3] including:
A series of articles by
pro-life authors published in the journal argued for a
link between abortion and breast cancer.
[47][48] Such a link has been rejected by the scientific community, including the U.S.
National Cancer Institute,
[49] the
American Cancer Society,
[50] and the
World Health Organization,
[51] among other major medical bodies.
[52]
A 2003 paper published in the journal, claiming that vaccination was harmful, was criticized for poor methodology, lack of scientific rigor, and outright errors by the
World Health Organization[53] and the
American Academy of Pediatrics.
[54] A
National Public Radio piece mentioned inaccurate information published in the
Journal and said: "The journal itself is not considered a leading publication, as it's put out by an advocacy group that opposes most government involvement in medical care."
[55]
The
Journal has also published articles advocating politically and socially conservative policy positions, including:
Leprosy error
Edit
In a 2005 article published in the
Journal,
Madeleine Cosman argued that
illegal immigrants were carriers of disease, and that immigrants and
"anchor babies" were launching a "stealthy assault on [American] medicine."
[58]In the article, Cosman claimed that "Suddenly, in the past 3 years America has more than 7,000 cases of leprosy" because of illegal aliens.
[58] The journal's
leprosy claim was cited and repeated by
Lou Dobbs as evidence of the dangers of illegal immigration.
[55][59]
Publicly available statistics show that the 7,000 cases of leprosy occurred during the past 30 years, not the past three as Cosman claimed.
[60] James L. Krahenbuhl, director of the U.S. government's leprosy program, stated that there had been no significant increase in leprosy cases, and that "It [leprosy] is not a public health problem—that’s the bottom line."
[59] National Public Radio reported that the
Journal article "had footnotes that did not readily support allegations linking a recent rise in leprosy rates to illegal immigrants."
[55] The article's erroneous leprosy claim was pointed out by
60 Minutes,
[61] National Public Radio,
[55]and the
New York Times[59] but has not been corrected by the
Journal.
[58]
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