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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| What is at stake in the "war on anti-ageing medicine"? | | Author(s) | John Vincent |
| Journal title | Ageing and Society, vol 23, part 5, September 2003 |
| Pages | pp 675-684 |
| Keywords | Biological ageing ; Longevity ; Preventative medicine ; Literature reviews. |
| Annotation | The recent debate in the United States' gerontological literature on anti-ageing medicine has profound significance for the discipline of gerontology. This review article discusses three major contributions to the debate and assesses the meaning of the wider debate for gerontology. The paper, "No truth to the fountain of youth", by S Jay Olshansky, Leonard Hayflick and Bruce A Carnes (Scientific American, May 2002), was aimed at a popular science readership rather than gerontologists, and had an overtly campaigning purpose. Among the many responses, that by Robert H Binstock, "The war on anti-ageing medicine" (The Gerontologist, February 2003), places the concerns expressed by Olshansky et al in an historical context, and draws out its significance for gerontology as a discipline. Also reviewed is a special issue in 2002 of Generations (American Society on Aging journal), "Anti-ageing: are you for it or against it?" The debate represented by these papers is significant not only for biomedical but also social gerontology, and for our understanding of the cultural position of old age in modern society. (KJ/RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-030922208 A |
| Classmark | BH: BGA: LK2: 64A |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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