Researcher: the American College of Pediatricians distorted my work

The American College of Pediatricians (ACP) claimed last week that they sent out a letter to over 14,000 school superintendents inviting them to peruse and use information on a new site the group created, Facts About Youth.

However, the web page does nothing more than repeat the same lies and junk science that religious right groups have been pushing against the lgbt community for over 30 years.

Also, the American College of Pediatricians is nothing more than a shell group designed to give these same distortions a degree of "scientific credibility."

Much of their information, much like the information on the Facts About Youth web page, is the result of the distortion of credible research.

And now, one of those researchers is crying foul.

The watchdog group Truth Wins Out has published an exclusive letter from Dr. Gary Remafedi, M.D., M.P.H., a University of Minnesota researcher to the American College of Pediatricians accusing them of distorting his work. It reads in part:

I have previously encountered and confronted the problem of misrepresentation of research from other advocacy groups such as yours. However, this episode is especially troubling and egregious because it is led by colleagues within my own profession— who certainly have the ability, education, and experience to access, review, and accurately summarize the Pediatric scientific literature.

Our professional code demands of Pediatricians nothing short of the highest standards of ethical conduct in medical education, research, and patient care. Knowingly misrepresenting research findings for material or personal gain is a flagrant violation of this code of conduct. Implicating me in this chicanery is doubly damaging to my professional reputation and career by holding me accountable for misstatements and by associating me with a cause that most ethical Pediatricians will recognize as misguided and hurtful to an entire class of children and families.

Please immediately remove any reference to our work from the website. As a suitable remedy, I also would urge you take the following actions:

1)    Publicly retract your references to our research with a written statement posted on the home page of your website;

2)    Until then, any donations made to your organization since the “Facts about Youth” website was launched should be either returned to the donors or contributed to the LGBT youth research fund of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine.

I personally don't think Remafedi should hold his breath waiting for an apology. It's been my experience that when religious right groups are caught in a lie, they generally ignore complaints and repeat the deceptions as if they are facts.

Still, Remafedi's angry letter is worth remembering when one has to assess the non-existent validity of the ACP.

Related posts:

American College of Pediatricians, NARTH pushes new site featuring old anti-gay lies

The American College of Pediatricians and the Laundering of Junk Science