De-coupling Pseudoscience from Real Science

By Joyce Shelton, Ph.D.

Despite President Trump’s recent executive orders, one declaring that there are only two genders, male and female, and promising to restore “biological truth to the federal government,” and another “protecting children from chemical and surgical mutilation”, controversies surrounding transgender ideology and the treatment of sex/gender-confused youth remain. Daily, beleaguered parents are faced with making heart-rending, life-altering decisions regarding the best care for their beloved children. The ideology-driven advice they receive is generally more hyper-emotional than rational. How can we help?  I propose that we eschew emotions and turn toward real evidence-based science to inform our thinking and decision-making ...read more

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Trust

   

Guest Column* by Janet Liljestrand, M.D., M.A.  

Trust, once lost, is difficult to regain.  In last month’s Tennessee CBC article Credibility and How to Lose it, Dr. D. Joy Riley questioned if the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) risks its credibility for recommending “gender affirming care” in the treatment of gender dysphoria.  Such treatment involves radically and unnaturally changing the body and is not based on scientific data.  The AAP is indeed an influential organization.  It makes recommendations, but pediatric practitioners and Children’s Hospitals put those recommendations into practice for minors.  Children’s Hospitals ...read more

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Credibility — and How to Lose It

by D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A.

Executive Director

Is the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) behaving badly? This is a cogent question. Recently (24 September 2024), the Attorneys General of twenty states, along with the President of the Arizona Senate and the Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives wrote to the AAP with multiple concerns:

Re: AAP’s Compliance with State Consumer Protection Laws 

. . . When the American Academy of Pediatrics speaks, its 67,000 pediatrician members, the broader medical community, the public, and especially parents are listening. Since its founding in 1930, it has exercised great influence on the practice ...read more

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