Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
Encyclopedia
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) is a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C.
, which promotes a vegan
diet, preventive medicine, alternatives to animal research
, and encourages what it describes as "higher standards of ethics and effectiveness in research." Its primary activities include outreach and education about nutrition and compassionate choices to healthcare professionals and the public; ending the use of animals in medical school curricula; and advocating for legislative changes on the local and national levels.
PCRM was founded in 1985 by Neal D. Barnard
of the George Washington University Medical School
.
is the group's director of public affairs.
As of January 2011, its advisory board consists of:
or vegan
diet, together with aerobic and weight-bearing exercises and exposure to sufficient sunlight for vitamin D production. It writes that vegetarian diets are low in saturated fat
, high in dietary fiber
, contain phytochemicals that PCRM argues help prevent cancer, and contain no cholesterol
. Its website cites several studies that it says show that vegetarians are less likely than meat eaters to develop cancer. It argues that a vegetarian diet can help prevent heart disease, lower blood pressure, can prevent and may reverse diabetes, and that it may improve the symptoms of a number of other conditions. PCRM runs the Cancer Project, which suggests a vegan diet will help with cancer prevention, and that offers nutritional assistance to cancer patients.
PCRM argues for the health benefits of avoiding dairy product
s—Barnard has called cheese "dairy crack"—and campaigns for vegetarian meals in schools. It also runs a website that collects reports of adverse health effects experienced by people on the Atkins diet. The New York Times writes that it was PCRM who in 2004 passed Dr Robert Atkins
's medical report to the Wall Street Journal. The report, obtained by Dr. Richard Fleming of the Fleming Heart and Health Institute, showed that Atkins himself had experienced heart attack, congestive heart failure, and weight problems. Atkins supporters countered that there was no reason to think that his heart problem (cardiomyopathy
) was diet related, and that his weight at death was higher due to fluids pumped into him in the hospital.
The organization's founder, Neal Barnard, M.D., has published dozens of peer-reviewed papers on nutrition in journals such as The American Journal of Cardiology, The Lancet Oncology, and the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. Nature wrote in 2006 that PCRM had become "an endless source of vexation for federal nutrition-policymakers," but that Barnard's position had some support within the medical community. William Roberts, a PCRM adviser, executive director of the Baylor Cardiovascular Institute, and editor of the American Journal of Cardiology said of Barnard. "He's a superb man. Anybody who devotes their life like he has done to getting us all on the right dietary track, I admire."
for promoting high-fat, high-calorie products, such as certain brands of cookies and fast-food products. Susan Levin, PCRM's staff dietitian, sent a letter in March 2009 to the minor league
baseball team the West Michigan Whitecaps
to complain about a 4-pound, 4,800-calorie hamburger on the team's concession stand menu, and to ask that the team put a label on the burger indicating that it was a "dietary disaster".
A PCRM advertising campaign launched in the Washington, D.C. area in September 2010 under the slogan "I'm not lovin' it
" shows a grieving woman in a morgue as the camera circles around a middle-aged man draped in a white sheet clutching a partially eaten hamburger in his right hand. As the camera reaches the man's feet protruding from underneath the sheet, the familiar Golden Arches logo is displayed and the screen fades to a red background with the catchphrase "I'm not lovin' it" as a narrator intones: "High cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart attacks. Tonight, make it vegetarian."
It also opposes animal testing
. The group has helped to oppose research by the U.S. military that involved shooting cats, narcotics experiments conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, and experiments that involved monkeys mutilating themselves. Its research department promotes alternatives to the use of animals, including their use in experiments in medical schools. PCRM argues that animal experiments are ineffective because inter alia the pain and stress animals experience in laboratories—isolation, confinement, noise, and lack of exercise—contaminate the results of the experiments. They argue that research into "immune function, endocrine and cardiovascular disorders, neoplasms, developmental defects, and psychological phenomena are particularly vulnerable to stress effects."
, a nonprofit, health agency focused upon health fraud, misinformation, and quackery views the PCRM as a propaganda machine whose press conferences are charades for disguising its animal rights ideology as news events.
The American Council on Science and Health
, a non-profit, consumer health education and advocacy organization states that the PCRM is unscientific and that it publishes unreliable nutrition information to consumers by emphasizing only data that supports their animal rights agenda. They go on to state that PCRM exaggerate the reliability and importance of data, and that they obfuscate rather than clarify what can be a confusing body of information. The American Council on Science believe that those who purport to represent consumer interests, such as the PCRM should be responsible enough to present accurate and balanced information to the public.
The American Medical Association
have accused PCRM practices as irresponsible and potentially dangerous to the health and welfare of Americans and that they are blatantly misleading Americans on a health matter and concealing its true purpose as an animal 'rights' organization. They have also accused the PCRM of making misleading, false claims and misrepresenting the critical role animals play in research and teaching. Although the PCRM states that as of 2004 there is no longer acrimony between them and the AMA, disagreements have been recorded as recently as 2007.
PCRM has responded to such criticism from groups it says are funded by the meat, dairy, or chemical industries.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
(PETA) and the foundation that manages it—the Foundation to Support Animal Protection, also known as the PETA Foundation—donated over $850,000 to PCRM between 1988 and 2000, and Barnard sat on the Foundation's board until 2005. Barnard also writes a medical column for Animal Times, PETA's magazine. PCRM has responded that PETA's contribution to PCRM was small.
PCRM—along with PETA and groups such as the Centers for Disease Control, the Center for Science in the Public Interest
, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving
—has been the subject of public criticism for several years by the Center for Consumer Freedom
(CCF), a non-profit lobby group representing the food and beverage industry. The New York Times reported CCF's and PCRM's criticism of each other in 2004. CCF called PCRM a front for PETA, arguing that when PCRM offers health advice, they "do a very slick job of obscuring their real intentions," which is simply to oppose the use of meat, dairy products and alcohol. PCRM responded that, "If you are in the business of putting veal or beef on the tables of America, and slaughtering more than a million animals per hour, and making an awful lot of money at it, you are going to try to neutralize PETA or other animal-rights groups."
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, which promotes a vegan
Veganism
Veganism is the practice of eliminating the use of animal products. Ethical vegans reject the commodity status of animals and the use of animal products for any purpose, while dietary vegans or strict vegetarians eliminate them from their diet only...
diet, preventive medicine, alternatives to animal research
Animal testing
Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and in vivo testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments. Worldwide it is estimated that the number of vertebrate animals—from zebrafish to non-human primates—ranges from the tens of millions to more than 100 million...
, and encourages what it describes as "higher standards of ethics and effectiveness in research." Its primary activities include outreach and education about nutrition and compassionate choices to healthcare professionals and the public; ending the use of animals in medical school curricula; and advocating for legislative changes on the local and national levels.
PCRM was founded in 1985 by Neal D. Barnard
Neal D. Barnard
Neal D. Barnard is an American physician, author, clinical researcher, and founding president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine , an international network of physicians, scientists, and laypeople who promote preventive medicine, conduct clinical research, and promote higher...
of the George Washington University Medical School
George Washington University Medical School
The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences was established in 1824 due to the need for doctors in the District of Columbia but formally opened its doors a year later in 1825. It is the eleventh oldest medical school in the country and the first medical school...
.
Governance
PCRM has a paid staff of 35, with a membership of approximately 9,000 physicians and 120,000 supporting members, including dietitians, psychologists, nurses, other science and health professionals, and laypeople. Its board of directors consists of Neal Barnard, a psychiatrist; Russell Bunai, a pediatrician; Mindy Kursban, its chief legal counsel; Mark Sklar, an endocrinologist; and Barbara Wassermann, an internist. Its director of research is Chad B. Sandusky, formerly with the Environmental Protection Agency. Elizabeth KucinichElizabeth Kucinich
Elizabeth Kucinich is director of public affairs for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, and wife of the U.S. Congressman and former Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich.-Early life and education:...
is the group's director of public affairs.
As of January 2011, its advisory board consists of:
- T. Colin CampbellT. Colin CampbellT. Colin Campbell is an American biochemist who specializes in the effects of nutrition on long-term health. He is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University, and the author of over 300 research papers...
, Ph.D., Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell UniversityCornell UniversityCornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions... - Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr.Caldwell EsselstynCaldwell Blakeman Esselstyn Jr., M.D., is an American physician, author, and former Olympic rowing champion.-Biography:...
, M.D., The Cleveland Clinic - Suzanne Havala Hobbs, Dr.PH., M.S., R.D. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Henry J. HeimlichHenry HeimlichDr. Henry Jay Heimlich , an American physician, has received credit as the inventor of abdominal thrusts, more commonly known as the Heimlich maneuver, though debate continues over his role in the development of the procedure...
, M.D., Sc.D., The Heimlich Institute - Lawrence Kushi, Sc.D. Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente
- John A. McDougallJohn A. McDougallJohn A. McDougall, M.D., is an American physician and author whose philosophy is that degenerative disease can be prevented and treated with a plant-based diet of whole, unprocessed, low-fat foods, especially starches such as potatoes, rice, and beans, and which excludes all animal foods and added...
, M.D., St Helena Hospital - Virginia Messina, M.P.H., R.D., Nutrition Matters, Inc.
- Milton Mills, M.D., Gilead Medical Group
- Myriam Parham, R.D., L.D., C.D.E., East Pasco Medical Center
- William Roberts, M.D., Baylor Cardiovascular Institute
- Andrew WeilAndrew WeilAndrew Thomas Weil is an American author and physician, who established the field of integrative medicine which attempts to integrate alternative and conventional medicine. Weil is the author of several best-selling books and operates a website and monthly newsletter promoting general health and...
, M.D., University of Arizona
Nutrition and exercise
PCRM promotes a vegetarianVegetarianism
Vegetarianism encompasses the practice of following plant-based diets , with or without the inclusion of dairy products or eggs, and with the exclusion of meat...
or vegan
Veganism
Veganism is the practice of eliminating the use of animal products. Ethical vegans reject the commodity status of animals and the use of animal products for any purpose, while dietary vegans or strict vegetarians eliminate them from their diet only...
diet, together with aerobic and weight-bearing exercises and exposure to sufficient sunlight for vitamin D production. It writes that vegetarian diets are low in saturated fat
Saturated fat
Saturated fat is fat that consists of triglycerides containing only saturated fatty acids. Saturated fatty acids have no double bonds between the individual carbon atoms of the fatty acid chain. That is, the chain of carbon atoms is fully "saturated" with hydrogen atoms...
, high in dietary fiber
Dietary fiber
Dietary fiber, dietary fibre, or sometimes roughage is the indigestible portion of plant foods having two main components:* soluble fiber that is readily fermented in the colon into gases and physiologically active byproducts, and* insoluble fiber that is metabolically inert, absorbing water as it...
, contain phytochemicals that PCRM argues help prevent cancer, and contain no cholesterol
Cholesterol
Cholesterol is a complex isoprenoid. Specifically, it is a waxy steroid of fat that is produced in the liver or intestines. It is used to produce hormones and cell membranes and is transported in the blood plasma of all mammals. It is an essential structural component of mammalian cell membranes...
. Its website cites several studies that it says show that vegetarians are less likely than meat eaters to develop cancer. It argues that a vegetarian diet can help prevent heart disease, lower blood pressure, can prevent and may reverse diabetes, and that it may improve the symptoms of a number of other conditions. PCRM runs the Cancer Project, which suggests a vegan diet will help with cancer prevention, and that offers nutritional assistance to cancer patients.
PCRM argues for the health benefits of avoiding dairy product
Dairy product
Dairy products are generally defined as foods produced from cow's or domestic buffalo's milk. They are usually high-energy-yielding food products. A production plant for such processing is called a dairy or a dairy factory. Raw milk for processing comes mainly from cows, and, to a lesser extent,...
s—Barnard has called cheese "dairy crack"—and campaigns for vegetarian meals in schools. It also runs a website that collects reports of adverse health effects experienced by people on the Atkins diet. The New York Times writes that it was PCRM who in 2004 passed Dr Robert Atkins
Robert Atkins (nutritionist)
Robert Coleman Atkins, MD was an American physician and cardiologist, best known for the Atkins Nutritional Approach , a popular but controversial way of dieting that entails close control of carbohydrate consumption, emphasizing protein and fat intake, including saturated fat in addition to...
's medical report to the Wall Street Journal. The report, obtained by Dr. Richard Fleming of the Fleming Heart and Health Institute, showed that Atkins himself had experienced heart attack, congestive heart failure, and weight problems. Atkins supporters countered that there was no reason to think that his heart problem (cardiomyopathy
Cardiomyopathy
Cardiomyopathy, which literally means "heart muscle disease," is the deterioration of the function of the myocardium for any reason. People with cardiomyopathy are often at risk of arrhythmia or sudden cardiac death or both. Cardiomyopathy can often go undetected, making it especially dangerous to...
) was diet related, and that his weight at death was higher due to fluids pumped into him in the hospital.
The organization's founder, Neal Barnard, M.D., has published dozens of peer-reviewed papers on nutrition in journals such as The American Journal of Cardiology, The Lancet Oncology, and the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. Nature wrote in 2006 that PCRM had become "an endless source of vexation for federal nutrition-policymakers," but that Barnard's position had some support within the medical community. William Roberts, a PCRM adviser, executive director of the Baylor Cardiovascular Institute, and editor of the American Journal of Cardiology said of Barnard. "He's a superb man. Anybody who devotes their life like he has done to getting us all on the right dietary track, I admire."
Action against fast food
The organization's nutrition director, Amy Lanou, Ph.D., has criticized the U.S. Department of AgricultureUnited States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
for promoting high-fat, high-calorie products, such as certain brands of cookies and fast-food products. Susan Levin, PCRM's staff dietitian, sent a letter in March 2009 to the minor league
Minor league
Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities. This term is used in North America with regard to several organizations competing in...
baseball team the West Michigan Whitecaps
West Michigan Whitecaps
The West Michigan Whitecaps are a Class A minor league baseball team, affiliated with the Detroit Tigers, that plays in the Midwest League. Their home games are played in Comstock Park, Michigan, a suburb of Grand Rapids.-Franchise history:...
to complain about a 4-pound, 4,800-calorie hamburger on the team's concession stand menu, and to ask that the team put a label on the burger indicating that it was a "dietary disaster".
A PCRM advertising campaign launched in the Washington, D.C. area in September 2010 under the slogan "I'm not lovin' it
I'm not lovin' it
"I'm not lovin' it" is a spoof of the McDonald's advertising slogan "I'm lovin' it" used in an advertising campaign launched by vegan advocacy group Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in September 2010 that encourages consumers to adopt a vegetarian diet in order to avoid the increased...
" shows a grieving woman in a morgue as the camera circles around a middle-aged man draped in a white sheet clutching a partially eaten hamburger in his right hand. As the camera reaches the man's feet protruding from underneath the sheet, the familiar Golden Arches logo is displayed and the screen fades to a red background with the catchphrase "I'm not lovin' it" as a narrator intones: "High cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart attacks. Tonight, make it vegetarian."
Position regarding research
PCRM sees the prescription of unnecessary drugs—drugs that may have toxic side effects—to adults and children as unethical, seeing it as human experimentation; it cites its opposition, for example, to giving children growth hormones to make them taller.It also opposes animal testing
Animal testing
Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and in vivo testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments. Worldwide it is estimated that the number of vertebrate animals—from zebrafish to non-human primates—ranges from the tens of millions to more than 100 million...
. The group has helped to oppose research by the U.S. military that involved shooting cats, narcotics experiments conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, and experiments that involved monkeys mutilating themselves. Its research department promotes alternatives to the use of animals, including their use in experiments in medical schools. PCRM argues that animal experiments are ineffective because inter alia the pain and stress animals experience in laboratories—isolation, confinement, noise, and lack of exercise—contaminate the results of the experiments. They argue that research into "immune function, endocrine and cardiovascular disorders, neoplasms, developmental defects, and psychological phenomena are particularly vulnerable to stress effects."
Criticism and relationship with PETA
The National Council Against Health FraudThe National Council Against Health Fraud
The National Council Against Health Fraud is a 501 non-profit, US-based organization registered in California, that describes itself as a "private nonprofit, voluntary health agency that focuses upon health misinformation, fraud, and quackery as public health problems." The NCAHF has been...
, a nonprofit, health agency focused upon health fraud, misinformation, and quackery views the PCRM as a propaganda machine whose press conferences are charades for disguising its animal rights ideology as news events.
The American Council on Science and Health
American Council on Science and Health
The American Council on Science and Health is a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 by Dr. Elizabeth Whelan that produces peer-reviewed reports on issues related to food, nutrition, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, lifestyle, the environment and health...
, a non-profit, consumer health education and advocacy organization states that the PCRM is unscientific and that it publishes unreliable nutrition information to consumers by emphasizing only data that supports their animal rights agenda. They go on to state that PCRM exaggerate the reliability and importance of data, and that they obfuscate rather than clarify what can be a confusing body of information. The American Council on Science believe that those who purport to represent consumer interests, such as the PCRM should be responsible enough to present accurate and balanced information to the public.
The American Medical Association
American Medical Association
The American Medical Association , founded in 1847 and incorporated in 1897, is the largest association of medical doctors and medical students in the United States.-Scope and operations:...
have accused PCRM practices as irresponsible and potentially dangerous to the health and welfare of Americans and that they are blatantly misleading Americans on a health matter and concealing its true purpose as an animal 'rights' organization. They have also accused the PCRM of making misleading, false claims and misrepresenting the critical role animals play in research and teaching. Although the PCRM states that as of 2004 there is no longer acrimony between them and the AMA, disagreements have been recorded as recently as 2007.
PCRM has responded to such criticism from groups it says are funded by the meat, dairy, or chemical industries.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an American animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. A non-profit corporation with 300 employees and two million members and supporters, it claims to be the largest animal rights...
(PETA) and the foundation that manages it—the Foundation to Support Animal Protection, also known as the PETA Foundation—donated over $850,000 to PCRM between 1988 and 2000, and Barnard sat on the Foundation's board until 2005. Barnard also writes a medical column for Animal Times, PETA's magazine. PCRM has responded that PETA's contribution to PCRM was small.
PCRM—along with PETA and groups such as the Centers for Disease Control, the Center for Science in the Public Interest
Center for Science in the Public Interest
Center for Science in the Public Interest is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit watchdog and consumer advocacy group focusing on nutritional education and awareness.-History and funding:...
, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Mothers Against Drunk Driving is a non-profit organization in the United States that seeks to stop drunk driving, support those affected by drunk driving, prevent underage drinking, and overall push for stricter alcohol policy...
—has been the subject of public criticism for several years by the Center for Consumer Freedom
Center for Consumer Freedom
The Center for Consumer Freedom , formerly the Guest Choice Network, is a non-profit American lobby group. It describes itself as "dedicated to protecting consumer choices and promoting common sense," and defending "the right of adults and parents to choose how they live their lives, what they eat...
(CCF), a non-profit lobby group representing the food and beverage industry. The New York Times reported CCF's and PCRM's criticism of each other in 2004. CCF called PCRM a front for PETA, arguing that when PCRM offers health advice, they "do a very slick job of obscuring their real intentions," which is simply to oppose the use of meat, dairy products and alcohol. PCRM responded that, "If you are in the business of putting veal or beef on the tables of America, and slaughtering more than a million animals per hour, and making an awful lot of money at it, you are going to try to neutralize PETA or other animal-rights groups."