The Gerontologist
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
 QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     


This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Binstock, R. H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Binstock, R. H.
The Gerontologist 43:4-14 (2003)
© 2003 The Gerontological Society of America

The War on "Anti-Aging Medicine"

Robert H. Binstock, PhD

Correspondence: Address correspondence to Robert H. Binstock, PhD, Professor of Aging, Health, and Society, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106-4945. E-mail: rhb3{at}po.cwru.edu

Leading members of the gerontological community have recently launched a war on anti-aging medicine, seeking to discredit what they judge to be fraudulent and harmful products and therapies, and to distinguish their research from what they regard as the pseudoscience of the anti-aging movement. This article interprets the contemporary war on anti-aging medicine as largely an attempt by established gerontological researchers to preserve their hard-won scientific and political legitimacy, as well as to maintain and enhance funding for research on the basic biological mechanisms of aging. First, it recounts the difficult struggle of U.S. biogerontologists to join the scientific mainstream in terms of legitimization and public funding. Second, it examines how elements of a contemporary anti-aging movement seem to threaten the hard-won public legitimacy of established gerontological researchers and practitioners. Third, it looks at the "boundary work" responses of the gerontological community to the anti-aging movement. Finally, it assesses the consequences of the war on anti-aging medicine to date.

Key Words: Anti-aging • Biology of aging • Gerontology • Research funding • Science policy




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci.Home page
A. D. N. J. D. GREY
The Natural Biogerontology Portfolio: "Defeating Aging" as a Multi-stage Ultra-grand Challenge
Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., April 1, 2007; 1100(1): 409 - 423.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
SociologyHome page
J. A. Vincent
Ageing Contested: Anti-ageing Science and the Cultural Construction of Old Age
Sociology, August 1, 2006; 40(4): 681 - 698.
[Abstract] [PDF]




HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
All GSA journals Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
Copyright © 2003 by The Gerontological Society of America.