Por qué no soy vegetariano - Un "ismo" menos

Dejé el vegetarianismo porque encontré que ese compromiso significó rendirse a la objetividad, la cual es esencial para la integridad personal y profesional de un científico. Como un educador de salud, siento tener la obligación de esforzarme por adherirme a los hechos sin barnizar cualquier investigación científica descubierta. Puedo apoyar el vegetarianismo pragmático, pero yo creo que la cruzada de los vegetarianos ideológicos es peligrosa para ellos y para la sociedad.

El Dr. William T. Jarvis Ph.D., autor de este artículo, es consejero de ACSH∞ (Consejo Estadounidense sobre Ciencia y Salud), profesor de salud pública y medicina preventiva en la Universidad de Loma Linda, fundador y presidente del Consejo Nacional Contra el Fraude en la Salud, y co-editor de The Healt Roberts: Una Mirada Íntima al Charlatanismo en América (1993). Este artículo es una adaptación de uno publicado por Prometheus Books (Amherst, Nueva York) en el November/December 1996 volante del problema de Nutrición & Noticia del Foro de Salud.

1. D. Erhardt, "The New Vegetarians, Part One. Vegetarianism and its Medical Consequences," Nutrition Today, November/December, 1973.
2. R. Spitzer. No Need For Hunger. Danville, Ill.: Interstate Printers and Publishers, 1981.
3. National Academy of Sciences. Toxicants Occurring Naturally In Foods. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1973.
4. J. Wood. "Mother of Starved Children Asks Permission to Give Birth Again," San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle, March 27, 1983, p. A5.
5. Journal of Nutrition Education 1981; 13:26.
6. Newsweek, September 18, 1972, p. 71.
7. "Temple Beautiful Diet. Death for David Blume," (AP) San Bernardino Sun, October 15, 1979, p. A-3.
8. C.V. Wetli and J.H. Davis. JAMA 1978; 240:1339.
9. San Jose Mercury News, August 20, 1994.
10. O. Segerberg. Living to Be 100: 1200 Who Did and How They Did It. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1982.
11. J.L. Lyon, M.R. Klauber, J.W. Gardner, and C.R. Smart, "Cancer Incidence in Mormons and Non-Mormons in Utah, 1966-70," N Engl J Med 1976; 294:129-133 (p.132).
12. J.E. Enstrom. "Cancer Mortality among Low-Risk Populations," CA - A Cancer Journal for Clinicians 1979; 29:352-61.
13. C.M. Friedenreich, R.F. Brant, and E. Riboli. "Influence of Methodological Factors in a Pooled Analysis of 13 Case-Control Studies of Colorectal Cancer and Dietary Fiber," Epidemiology 1994; 5:66-79.
14. D.J. Hunter et al. "Cohort Studies of Fat Intake and the Risk of Breast Cancer. A Pooled Analysis," New Engl J Med 1996; 334:356-61.
15. E. Becker. The Denial of Death. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1973.
16. J. Whorton. "Tempest in a Flesh-Pot: Development of a Physiological Rationale for Vegetarianism," Journal of the History of Medicine, April 1977, pp. 119-120.
17. Good Medicine, Spring 1995.
18. The Population Reference Bureau, Inc., Washington, D.C., 1988.
19. K. Rothman. "Conflict of Interest: The New McCarthyism in Science," JAMA 1993; 269 (21):2782-4.
20. B. Cassileth et al. "Contemporary Treatments in Cancer Medicine," Ann Intern Med 1984; 101:105-12.
21. "Researchers Release Adventist Health Study Results," Pacific Union Recorder, March 12, 1979.

• From Raso J. The Dictionary of Metaphysical Healthcare: Alternative Medicine, Paranormal Healing, and Related Methods. 2nd ed. Atlanta: The Georgia Council Against Health Fraud; 1997.