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Of Course the New Meat ‘Guidelines’ Are Partially Funded by the Meat Industry
They’re at odds with doctors’ vow to do no harm
A recent commentary in JAMA lends support to publication in the Annals of Internal Medicine of “guidelines” suggesting that the public can keep eating processed meat at current levels while questioning the methods and motives of the many public health scientists who voiced opposition to the Annals authors’ methods and conclusions.
On September 23, 2019, the Annals of Internal Medicine (and, apparently, the American College of Physicians) issued the press release below:
The press release was circulated widely by the Annals of Internal Medicine to prominent experts; to university press offices, which in turn circulated it to their faculty content experts; and to health journalists, who did the same, seeking expert commentary.
The Council of Directors of the True Health Initiative is home to hundreds of such experts from organizations and universities in 45 countries, many dozens of whom received the press release, and on request, the articles directly from the Annals or their press offices. The True Health Initiative did not play a role in disseminating the press release or the articles, but rather in facilitating discussion among the content experts who had received them independently. The True Health Initiative honored the embargo.
The content experts involved in these exchanges requested (and received) the articles from the Annals to review the content on which the press release was based.
Concern and opposition resulted among content experts to the above press release, and the so-called “guidelines” they reference, even before reading the articles — because the conclusion in the release is at odds with the weight of scientific evidence, known well to these experts. This is analogous to theoretical responses by content experts to statements like any of the below from a major medical journal:
- “New guidelines: No need to quit smoking for good health.”
- “New guidelines: No need to exercise for good health.”
- “New guidelines: No need to be vaccinated for good health.”
- “New guidelines: No need…
