Here's a link to the poster I presented at AChemS 2011. Our results are from studies done in 2007 and 2008, but I brought them current via the honeybee model. As some of you know, the chemicals we used: androsterone and androstenol, and the amounts of these chemicals we used are the same as in The Scent of Eros products for men. So far as I know, we are the only research group to show that human pheromones influence behavior. If you're at all interested in the science of how this is done, the poster is very informative.

http://posters.f1000.com/Image?posterID=...ype=poster

James V. Kohl
http://www.pheromones.com

How was it received, any positive feedback?

Many had seen the results before--with initial critical / helpful comments on the first study that made our additional study presentations exemplary, with no negative feedback. But most chemosensory researchers are still not willing to take a stand in favor of human pheromones, as we've seen with the advent of Richard L. Doty's book: The Great Pheromone Myth, and reviews by researchers who should know better than to support such an obviously contrived position.

I presented this year in an attempt to address Doty's misrepresentations, by specifically linking the honeybee (insect model) to our results. No negative feedback, perhaps because our study design had been validated, and also adapted for use in a study of androstadienone that found no effect on flirtatious behavior in couples. Enough positive feedback, but I would have appreciated more feedback (good or bad) from a few researchers who did not make it to my poster. One comment about the use of supraphysiological amounts to show affects on behavior was troublesome. There's a lot of research that does this; super-sugars for example to test the affect of a sweetener, as is commonly done with research on tastes. Why would we not do the same thing with pheromones? Certainly not millions and billions of times natural concentration levels, but hundreds to thousands of times the natural concentration seems the only logical way to show cause and effect.

Of extreme interest to me was the fact that a close associate of Doty's, Leslie Cameron, was literally pulled away from my presentation as I was in mid-sentence by someone whose first name is Pers, I think. I know it was something that I said, but have no idea what.

James V. Kohl
http://www.pheromones.com

(06-23-2011 6:50 AM)2Soon2Care Wrote:  How was it received, any positive feedback?

Interesting disclosure for Doty :

http://courses.columbiacme.org/stress_an...nformation
Richard L. Doty, Ph.D.
Disclosure: Shareholder: Sensonics, Inc.

http://chemse.oxfordjournals.org/content.../i207.full
Disclosure: Dr Doty is a major shareholder in Sensonics Inc., the manufacturer and distributor of tests and taste and smell.

http://www.sensonics.com/shop/pc/viewcon...p?idpage=1

I wonder if attempting to publicly discredit pheromone research and researchers would allow some leverage in the marketplace with products that would utilize pheromones and putatives to influence behaviors while claiming that the products are simply "smells" that elicit responses?

He sounds dirty to me.

I think I may have helped to force his disclosure. He accused me of bias because of my interest in commercial product in an online discussion of his book. Of course I responded with a comment about his commercial interests.

There was a moment of tension when we again met face to face at a conference where he was hawking his book. But he is genuinely a likeable guy and we even joked a little about the on-line incident (as we had in the past about our differences).

I even considered linking from my site to his book sales site--so others might learn about his flawed logic, but then I began to think more in terms of the biology, much of which is ignored in his book. If he included more biology, he could not have presented his case at all, much less made a case for mammalian pheromones being a myth.

James V. Kohl
scentoferos.com

(06-23-2011 11:44 PM)2Soon2Care Wrote:  Interesting disclosure for Doty :

http://courses.columbiacme.org/stress_an...nformation
Richard L. Doty, Ph.D.
Disclosure: Shareholder: Sensonics, Inc.

http://chemse.oxfordjournals.org/content.../i207.full
Disclosure: Dr Doty is a major shareholder in Sensonics Inc., the manufacturer and distributor of tests and taste and smell.

http://www.sensonics.com/shop/pc/viewcon...p?idpage=1

I wonder if attempting to publicly discredit pheromone research and researchers would allow some leverage in the marketplace with products that would utilize pheromones and putatives to influence behaviors while claiming that the products are simply "smells" that elicit responses?

He sounds dirty to me.