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Robert Baratz

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Robert Sears Baratz
NationalityAmerican
Other namesRobert S. Baratz
Alma materNorthwestern University
SpouseYes
ChildrenTwo
Awards1992 Presidential Citation from the American Dental Association, 1993 Good Neighbor award from Newton, Massachusetts[1]
Scientific career
FieldsDentistry
InstitutionsSouth Shore Health Center
ThesisDevelopment of the rat dorsal lingual keratinizing epithelium: morphology and protein biochemistry. (1975)

Robert Sears Baratz is an American dentist and skeptic who practices in Braintree, Massachusetts.[2] Baratz has practiced dentistry since 1972 and emergency medicine since 1991. He was formerly the executive director of the National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF).[3]

Education and academic career

Baratz holds three doctorates (M.D., D.D.S., and Ph.D.). He is board certified in oral medicine, and completed his residency in internal medicine at the Carney Hospital. He received his PhD from Northwestern University in 1975. He is a faculty member at Northeastern University,[4] as well as at Boston University School of Medicine, where he has been the clinical assistant professor of medicine since 1976.[5][6]

Views

Baratz has harshly criticized spending money on researching alternative medicine.[7] Baratz has also criticized include the use of the Heimlich Maneuver on drowning victims, which he has referred to as "human experimentation" and which he says "violates the basic rules of medical ethics,"[8][9] as well as insulin potentiation therapy.[10] In addition, Baratz, along with the American Dental Association (for which he is a spokesperson), believes dental amalgams to be safe and their alleged adverse health effects unproven.[11][12]

Baratz has also voiced opposition to chiropractic, and appeared in an episode of Frontline called "A Different Way to Heal?" which questioned the scientific foundation of alternative medicine. In the episode, he said that "The chiropractic theory of manipulation as being curative of disease or in terms of diagnosing disease, is based on a false premise."[13] The episode was harshly criticized by Daryl Wills, then-president of the American Chiropractic Association, who wrote in a letter to PBS that he "found it ironic that a program titled "Scientific American Frontiers" would completely ignore the scientific foundation of the chiropractic profession" and also questioned the NCAHF's neutrality with regard to alternative medicine-related topics.[14] In reply, Baratz posted a response on the NCAHF's website in which he argued that "The fact that one does research on chiropractic does not make it "evidence-based." One can research scams and collect statistics on them. They are still scams."[15] Baratz is also a scientific advisor to the American Council on Science and Health,[16] and co-authored the book Consumer Health: A Guide to Intelligent Decisions along with Stephen Barrett, Harriet Hall, William London, and Manfred Kroger.[17]

In 2006, Baratz filed a complaint about Victoria Wulsin's endorsement of malariotherapy as a treatment for AIDS to the Ohio Medical Board; as of 2008 the complaint had been closed.[18] In 2009, Baratz teamed up with Kimball Atwood, Wallace Sampson and Elizabeth Woeckner to write an article in the Medscape Journal of Medicine which harshly criticized the use of chelation therapy as an alternative medical treatment.[19]

Selected publications

  • Baratz, R. S.; Farbman, A. I. (1975). "Morphogenesis of rat lingual filiform papillae". American Journal of Anatomy. 143 (3): 283–230. doi:10.1002/aja.1001430303. PMID 1155358.
  • Kousvelari, E. E.; Baratz, R. S.; Burke, B.; Oppenheim, F. G. (1980). "Immunochemical identification and determination of proline-rich proteins in salivary secretions, enamel pellicle, and glandular tissue specimens". Journal of dental research. 59 (8): 1430–1438. doi:10.1177/00220345800590081201. PMID 6772700.
  • Neubauer, L.; Baratz, R. S.; Laing, R. A.; Oak, S. S.; Leibowitz, H. M. (1984). "Coalescence of Endothelial Cells in the Traumatized Cornea: III. Correlation Between Specular and Scanning Electron Microscopy". Archives of Ophthalmology. 102 (6): 921–922. doi:10.1001/archopht.1984.01040030741034. PMID 6732577.

References

  1. ^ "Advisory Board". DrBicuspid. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  2. ^ "Dr. Robert S. Baratz". HealthGrades. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  3. ^ Baratz, Robert S. (10 September 2001). "Testimony before the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging". Quackwatch. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  4. ^ "Robert Baratz". Scientific American Frontiers. PBS. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  5. ^ "Bios". Dental Watch. Quackwatch. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
  6. ^ "Robert S. Baratz". BMC.org. Boston Medical Center. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
  7. ^ McMillen, Matt (2004). "A Walk in The Wild". The Washington Post. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  8. ^ Spivak, Todd. "Fighting for Air: Drowning and the Heimlich Maneuver". Houston Press. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
  9. ^ Baratz, Robert S. (29 May 2006). "New Letter to The Enquirer, from Robert S. Baratz, MD, PhD, DDS". The Cincinnati Beacon. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
  10. ^ Baratz, Robert S. (31 August 2013). "Why You Should Stay Away from Insulin Potentiation Therapy". Quackwatch. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
  11. ^ APPublished: March 16, 1991 (1991-03-16). "Dental Fillings With Mercury Are Safe, Scientific Panel Says - New York Times". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 2013-12-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ Baratz, Robert S. (24 September 2004). "Key Points about Amalgam Safety". Dental Watch. Quackwatch. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
  13. ^ "A Different Way to Heal Transcript". Scientific American Frontiers. 2002. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  14. ^ "Viewer Mail". Scientific American Frontiers. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  15. ^ Baratz, Robert S. (17 June 2002). "My Reply to the American Chiropractic Association". NCAHF website. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  16. ^ "Scientific Advisors". ACSH website. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
  17. ^ Consumer Health at Amazon
  18. ^ Rhee, Joseph (3 July 2008). "Democratic Congressional Candidate's Ties to Bizarre AIDS Research". ABC News. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  19. ^ Atwood, K. C.; Woeckner, E.; Baratz, R. S.; Sampson, W. I. (2008). "Why the NIH Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy (TACT) should be abandoned". Medscape journal of medicine. 10 (5): 115. PMC 2438277. PMID 18596934.
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