'ACSH is Fake News!' So Says Anti-Vax, Conspiracy-Loving Screwball

I guess you know you've hit the big time when nut logs start including you in conspiracy theories. So, I'm pleased to report that the American Council has hit the big time having managed to end up in a twisted conspiracy along with some rather distinguished company. Here are a few of our companions:

• Dr. Pieter Cohen, an assistant professor at the Harvard Medical School and a general internist with clinical expertise and research in weight loss, preventive medicine, and dietary supplements. Cohen was sued (unsuccessfully) in 2015 for $200 million for libel for and slander by a supplement maker.
• Dr. Paul Offit, the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a Professor of Vaccinology and Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Offit is also the inventor of RotaTeq, a critically important vaccine against rotavirus infection in children.
• Dr. David Seres, the director of medical nutrition and associate professor of medicine in the Institute of Human Nutrition, Columbia University Medical Center in New York. Dr. Seres is also on the American Council's board of scientific advisors. 

And our nut log accuser is Bill Sardi, who is, of course, a supplement peddler. In 2017 Sardi wrote some interesting stuff, including that the ACSH position regarding dietary supplements is fake news (!). Is it Sane? No. Accurate? Please. Interesting? Oh yeah. I don't have a fortnight to talk about this nonsense, so here are a few examples. 

"A new supplement antagonist is David Seres of The American Council on Science & Health who says the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act of 1994 [DSHEA] swept away “all regulations that vitamin, mineral and herbal supplements to prove they are safe and effective prior to marketing..."

Despite many years in pharmaceutical research, I am unaware of anything called a supplement antagonist. Beta-adrenergic antagonist? Sure. And Dr. Seres is an advisor to, not an employee of ACSH. And Seres is correct about DSHEA, a topic which I have written about numerous times (See DSHEA Allowed 23 Yrs Of Disgraceful Cancer Claims By Supplement Makers). Supplement makers are permitted to sell just about anything provided that the label on the bottle uses intentionally deceptive language. But only one paragraph later we have this...

...Ceres writes: Simply because these (dietary supplements) are unregulated, do not come from Pfizer or Merck, and are derived from plants, does not in any way guarantee safety or efficacy.” 

I do not who Ceres is. It is unlikely that David changed his name during the five seconds during which the paragraph was written. Perhaps Sardi really means Cersei. She hates everyone and everything so maybe she's the real supplement antagonist.

Forget spelling. Things get really strange shortly thereafter (emphasis mine)...

"I claim the FDA has purposefully allowed marginal or outright criminal marketers of dietary supplements to advertise their products hoping they will kill enough Americans to create public outrage and force a stranglehold on the whole dietary supplement industry." 

Wow. The FDA wants people to die from supplements?? Sounds pretty bizarre, but perhaps it's not as far-fetched as you might think. Others have made similarly rational claims. Including this guy: 

A dedicated reader of Bill Sardi? Original photo: chadblinman.com 

"Dietary supplements are safer than tap water, aspirin, table salt, even food."

No comment needed.

Just so you know who you're dealing with, here are is more stuff from Sardi's website:

• We already know how to cure cancer
• Baking soda cures nearly everything
• Homeopathy works
• Aspirin kills seniors
• I will never vaccinate my child

There is plenty more stuff designed for graduates of Chemtrails University. 

So this guy talks about fake news while he writes "flake news."  Just another days in the trenches at ACSH.