12 July 1979
Dear Professor Olson:
I submit herewith, in quadruplicate, my paper "Dietary Influences on the Synthesis of Neurotransmitters in the Brain," for publication in Nutrition Reviews.
You will see by reading the paper that I am concerned about the misrepresentation by Dr. John H. Growdeq and Dr. Richard J. Wurtman, in their paper with the same title that was published in Nutrition Reviews for May 1979. It seems to me to be grossly improper for the authors of this paper to present ideas and arguments almost identical with those in a paper published by me in 1968, and to describe them as novel, previously unsuspected, startling, and new. I cannot believe that the authors do not know about my 1968 paper and about the 1973 book that I was co-editor of. It is possible, of course, that they know about the paper and the book but have relied on hearsay in deciding that they were not worth reading.
It has been reported to me that Dr. Wurtman has stated in public that his work has nothing whatever to do with orthomolecular psychiatry. Such a statement, of course, cannot be supported. If the statement were made, it must have been made because of ignorance about orthomolecular psychiatry,
I have kept my paper short, because the articles in Nutrition Reviews are short. I hope that you can make a decision about publication of my paper without very much delay. I want it to be published as soon as possible. If you do not accept it for Nutrition Reviews, I plan to expand it and to make it more critical of the authors.
Sincerely,