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FYI
----- Original Message -----
From: Patricia Lewis
To: RAD-SCI-L
Sent: Sunday, August 22, 2004 12:01 PM
Subject: FYI - ANOTHER DISSIDENT DERMATOLOGIST EXCERPTS - Another case of dermatologist for the Sun:
(I'll forward entire newsletter to anyone interested - or visit the Moss Reports website) ------------------------------------------------------------- Newsletter #146 08/22/04 THE MOSS REPORTS It is remarkable how easily and how often the medical profession - a
profession which prides itself above all else on being firmly grounded in
science - falls back on blunt dogma when its official positions are
challenged.
The current debate over the advisability of exposing one's skin to sunlight is a case in point. While the dermatology profession as a whole has cleaved to a rigidly
anti-sunlight position, issuing dire warnings about the cancer risks of sunlight
exposure and encouraging everyone to don sunscreens before going outdoors, a
small but growing number of scientists and dissident dermatologists are
beginning to challenge that position. The dermatology profession has
reacted with anger to those who have dared to raise doubts about the
advisability of avoiding sunlight.
ANOTHER DISSIDENT DERMATOLOGIST A. Bernard Ackerman, MD, is an exceptionally distinguished dermatologist and one of the world's foremost authorities on the subject of skin cancer. In 1999, after a long career in academic medicine, he founded and became director of the Ackerman Academy of Dermatopathology in New York. Largely because of his leadership and high standards, Dr. Ackerman's
institution quickly became the world's largest training center in the field of
dermatopathology. (Dermatopathology is the study of the disease processes
that affect the skin. It involves detailed knowledge of the microscopic
anatomy of the skin's structure in health and disease.) Dr. Ackerman and
his six associates examine more than 100,000 skin specimens and do more than
4,000 consultations per year. Dr. Ackerman has published 625 research papers and
his list of honors and awards includes this year's Master Award, given to one
person a year by the American Academy of Dermatology.
What makes this accomplished scientist particularly interesting is not just his distinguished career in academic medicine but the fact that he challenges some of the dermatology profession's most cherished dogmas. According to an article in the New York Times (July 20, 2004), at age 67,
Dr. Ackerman "continues to teach and write, and also to ask for data and
question his field's conventional wisdom."
"The field is just replete with nonsense," he told the Times. For instance: --Dr. Ackerman does not believe that the link between melanoma and sun exposure (a central dogma of dermatology) has been proven. He himself is deeply tanned and unafraid to expose his body to the sun. snip ...
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