Dr. Dobson in a February 8 press release referred to “Cameron, a self-styled Colorado researcher.” Cameron replied: “The implication here is that I am something of a pretender. This is not the case. I am among the most frequently published scientists on homosexuality in refereed scientific journals. PubMed (the on-line indexing service of the National Academy of Medicine’s librarians) lists over 13,000,000 scientific articles on all kinds of topics. Among those dealing with homosexuality I have a healthy representation. As near as can be determined, I am among the “top 10” most frequently published scientists on the topic. You can check it out; go to Google and punch in PubMed.”

Cameron stated that he had been chosen by the editors of a number of scientific journals (including the British Medical Journal, the Canadian Medical Association Journal, and Psychological Reports) to review papers submitted to these journals. In this capacity, he participates in “gate-keeping” — that is, determining what studies on homosexuality are recognized as genuine science and worthy of publication.

Besides his work on homosexuality, Cameron has engaged in other forms of research. He was the first scientist, in 1967, to document the harm of second-hand tobacco smoke. His follow-on research and public statements helped to shape the relatively smoke-free environment characteristic of our current environment.

In the early years of the AIDS epidemic Cameron campaigned to keep “gay blood” out of the blood bank and to permit individuals to self-donate their own blood. Both of these policies were opposed by the CDC and the American Association of Blood Banks. Eventually, working with Rep. William Dannemeyer, Cameron helped to ensure in 1985 that gays were barred from donating blood. And around the same time, the American Association of Blood Banks agreed to permit self-donation.

Of this achievement Cameron says: “I played a role in saving thousands of additional lives that might have been lost to the notion that homosexual blood was just as infection-free as anybody else’s.”