Robert H. Binstock, PhD, Professor of Aging, Health, and Society, Eric T. Juengst, PhD, Associate Professor of Bioethics, Maxwell J. Mehlman, JD, Professor of Law, and Stephen G. Post, PhD, Professor of Bioethics; Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.
An international group of more than 50 biogerontologists--scientists who conduct research on the biology of aging--have launched a war on a burgeoning anti-aging medicine movement. They seek to discredit what they regard as the pseudoscience of practitioners and entrepreneurs that purvey hormone injections, special mineral waters and other services and products purported to combat the effects of aging. Yet, an unintended consequence of the biogerontologists' campaign against anti-aging medicine is that they are diverting attention from the potentially radical societal implications of their own anti-aging efforts--implications that should be widely discussed in nations throughout the world.
Key words: anti-aging, biology of aging, life extension, research funding, science policy.
