User:John J. Bulten/John F. Ashton

John Frederick Ashton, FRACI (born 1947), is an Australian food scientist, young-earth creationist, author, and advocate of the health benefits of chocolate.

Biography
Ashton was born in 1947. His full name is John Frederick Ashton. Ashton has bachelor's and master's degrees in chemistry from the University of Newcastle and the University of Tasmania, respectively. He has a doctorate in epistemology (a branch of philosophy dealing with the limits of knowledge) from the University of Newcastle.

In 2000, Ashton was appointed the strategic research manager for Sanitarium Health and Wellbeing Company, an iconic Australian food company owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Ashton was elected a Chartered Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute in 1992, and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology in 2006.

In academia, Ashton has been named an Adjunct Professor and Associate Professor at RMIT University, an Adjunct Associate Professor at Victoria University, an Honourary Associate at the University of Sydney, and a principal food research scientist at the University of Newcastle, and has also had roles at Deakin University and University of Wollongong.

He and his wife Colleen live in New South Wales, Australia, with their four children. He is a member of the Hillview Seventh-day Adventist Church in Morisset, New South Wales.

Views
Ashton believes in young-earth creationism, the belief "in a literal six-day biblical creation as the origin of life on earth" that "is probably less than 10,000 years old". The official Seventh-day Adventist Church theology also supports the literal interpretation of a six-day creation. These views are rejected by the scientific community, and Ashton has "received harsh criticism from the scientific community" due to his support of intelligent design.

Ashton published his views in a series of books between 1998 and 2006, many of which attracted negative responses from scientists. Ashton edited In Six Days: Why 50 Scientists Choose to Believe in Creation, an anthology of the belief statements of creationist scientists, engineers, and medical professionals. Australian biological anthropologist Colin Groves criticised the book as an abandonment of science in favour of "sheerest pseudoscience" in his review. Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins wrote of it, "I would not have believed such wishful thinking and self-deception possible." Some Christian reviewers interpreted the book as refuting the scientific consensus argument for evolution. Ashton followed up with similar books including Unwrapping the Pharaohs: How Egyptian Archaeology Confirms the Biblical Timeline and The Big Argument: Does God Exist?

The Perils of Progress was authored by Ashton and Ronald S. Laura (with foreword by Charles Birch), discussing topics such as electromagnetic fields, sunscreen, food additives, fluoridated water, sound pollution and sick building syndrome. Publishers Weekly described it as "thoroughgoing neo-Luddism". Colin Keay described the book as "pandering to paranoias about our lifestyle, alarming hypochondriacs and suggesting conspiracy theories that conceal deadly hazards from those of us silly enough to enjoy our high standard of living." Suggestions by Ashton and Laura led (after independent studies at the Australian Radiation Laboratories) to the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council issuing a health warning for some artificial lights.

Ashton's book A Chocolate a Day, coauthored with his daughter-in-law Suzy Ashton, advocates that chocolate is a good source of various beneficial nutrients. Because chocolate is high in phenylethylamine, Ashton also believes chocolate may help people fall in love. His followup book, The Chocolate Diet, coauthored with Victoria University biomedical science professor Lily Stojanovska, recommends a weight-loss diet including no more than 10 to 20 grams of chocolate per day.

Notability
Positive arguments for inclusion: Refutations of anticipated counterarguments:
 * Fellow of Chemical society
 * Adj.Prof(RMIT) + Adj.Assoc.Prof + Hon.Assoc (USyd). Note these are positions of substantially higher prominence than the "average professor" (e.g. faculty member) in north america (even if considered below full professor in Australian system).
 * "In 6 Days" has in depth review by Groves, plus mention by Dawkins, plus widespread mention.
 * Chocolate books have numerous reviews.
 * Proponents of fringe views are equally valid for inclusion provided the article is written in a way that does not lend credibility to their views.
 * There is no policy requirement that notability be demonstrated with a single ideal source (rather than the sum of a plurality of individually-below-threshold sources).
 * Policy does not distinguish authors from editors (and the impact of "in 6 days" is largely attributable to Ashton's concept and initiative whereas any individual contributing authors would be replaceable). Similarly, primary research vs. meta-analysis is not a basis for judging the significance of research, nor does collaboration reduce its validity.
 * The academic positions are not purely ceremonial (as evidenced in this case by research collaboration and assistant supervisory roles).
 * Allegations of "potted" bio's: even if a bio might be conjectured to have been originally supplied by Ashton that is still no reason to doubt its raw facts of if it passes to be associated with an independent reputation (such as of a publisher using it in promotion pages of a book).