October 22, 2007
Chicago Tribune
re: Dennis Byrne “Snubbing cancer study will only hurt women,” October 22, 2007
Dear Voice of the People,
Dennis Byrne bemoans the lack of publicity surrounding a study published in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons (JAPS), which reports the startling conclusion that abortion causes cancer. He does admit that this conclusion is contradicted by the vast majority of existing medical research. The journal that published the results that Byrne prefers over reality has a distinctive name. I recalled hearing it for the first time two weeks ago, when I received an unsolicited reprint (in full color on glossy paper) of another study they published. This was a study that concluded that global warming is a myth, that “there is no reason to limit human production of CO2 [carbon dioxide], CH4 [methane], and other minor greenhouse gases.” I was surprised that a study of atmospheric science would be published in what sounds like a medical journal. So I checked the standard National Institutes of Health database of medical literature, PubMed, and discovered that the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons is not included in its list of peer-reviewed medical journals. This was not too surprising, because not a single peer-reviewed publication has ever disputed the reality of global warming caused by human activity.
Byrne now cites a second “scientific study” that concludes against all other scientific evidence that the radical conservative opposition to abortion is supported by science. This coincidence raises questions about the legitimacy of the journal. Checking the JAPS website reveals a clear political perspective. It includes a bold Press Release “Doctors Applaud SCHIP Veto” and you can download a speech by Ronald Reagan given to the AAPS in 1978. To be fair, AAPS did oppose the rapid passage of the Homeland Security Act in 2001, because “We want to join in urging the government not to make haste to destroy our country just to keep our adversaries from doing it first.”
The bottom line is that this journal is not a legitimate peer-reviewed medical research journal. There are hundreds of legitimate peer-reviewed medical journals. If a study is so poorly conducted that it cannot be published in any real journal, there is no reason to consider its results worth the paper they are printed on. However, Dennis Byrne is willing to accept as a legitimate scientist any charlatan who agrees with his politics.
Sincerely,
Tom DeCoursey, Ph.D.
833 S. Scoville
Oak Park, IL 60304-1408
