Media reports lately have been full of news about the latest attempts by trial lawyers to find someone to sue for the increasing obesity of American kids. Not content with blaming McDonald's for fattening our youth, some trial lawyers, aided and abetted by the activist groups like Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), are now targeting companies that sell soft drinks in vending machines in schools.
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An article by Yury Orlov about the effects on business of California's anti-chemical Proposition 65 law was reprinted online on November 25, 2005 and mentions ACSH's position on the unscientific assumptions underlying Prop. 65:
The news of alleged misconduct by Dr. Hwang Woo Suk, the South Korean scientist hailed as a stem cell pioneer, is disturbing and bizarre. But it is essential that the behavior of one brilliant but seemingly troubled researcher not be used to besmirch the still promising field of embryonic stem cell (ESC) research.
I listen to NPR, I read The Nation, and I own every album Bob Dylan ever made. But I'm sick and tired of all the bad press that pharmaceutical companies have been getting lately. Fernando Meirelles's film The Constant Gardener is only one example -- in it, drug executives conspire to kill their critics, and the companies' desire for profit is derided with the line "No drug company does something for nothing." But in the real world, pharmaceutical companies are not so villainous. Here's why.
The FDA announced on Tuesday that the possible presence of benzene in soft drinks is not a cause for concern. In a response to a request for information by the Environmental Working Group, the FDA stated that benzene levels in the majority of beverages sampled thus far are either well below the legal limit or below the level of detection.
An April 6, 2006 article by John Johnston on bird flu quotes ACSH and Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, shortly after the release of our report on the subject:
"The potential for an avian flu pandemic is something we're constantly asked about," says American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) President Elizabeth Whelan.
An April 11, 2006 article by Melissa Rayworth about parents seeking quicker, easier meals for kids notes the organic trend and an ACSH dissent:
"We certainly have seen an increase in the number of convenience products that appeal to families," says Amy Schaefer, a Texas-based spokeswoman for Whole Foods. New parents, Schaefer says, often choose organic processed foods.
An April 29, 2006 essay from the Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Perfumery Association in the British publication The Grocer, criticizing overblown health scares, quoted an earlier Grocer piece by ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan about the panic over the dye Sudan 1:
A June 1, 2006 article by Jay Lehr, Ph.D., on the Heartland Institute's website seconds criticisms made by ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan about Chew on This, the anti-fast-food book by Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson:
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is right about one thing: the public should hold it accountable for how its programs work. The EPA said as much last month in a press release announcing its participation in ExpectMore.gov, which "provides the public with candid, easy to understand assessments of federal programs," including approximately forty-three from EPA.
So why did this huge, wasteful federal agency stonewall a small, information-seeking consumer advocacy organization and flout the law in the process?
Beginning March 20, 2006, the emergency contraceptive known as Plan B, the "morning after pill," will be available at Wal-Mart pharmacies nationwide. The retailer reversed its policy this week, making the drug more accessible to women across the country, especially in rural areas where Wal-Mart pharmacies may be their only option. Illinois and Massachusetts already require Wal-Mart to stock Plan B at pharmacies where other contraceptives are available.
A July 12, 2006 article by Matt Wells noted reactions to talk of banning restaurants from some areas of New York City with high obesity rates:
Another vocal critic is Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, president of the conservative-leaning American Council on Science and Health, based in Manhattan.
An article by Denise Mann, updated July 6, 2006, quotes ACSH's Dr. Ruth Kava on trans fats:
"We used to use animal fats, and people said, 'saturated fats are bad,' so we switched to trans fats," says Ruth Kava, PhD, RD, director of nutrition at the New York City-based American Council on Science and Health. "This kind of gives us an unfortunate focus on ingredients rather than the whole diet when the problem isn't this fat or that fat, it's too many calories"...
A February 3, 2006 piece by Rosalind Lacy MacLennan gives ACSH's book America's War on "Carcinogens" a positive review:
This letter appeared on the website of the New York Times.
To the Editor:
It is gratifying to learn that Dr. Arata Kochi plans to adhere to sound medical evidence and promote the indoor spraying of DDT in poor regions where malaria remains endemic ("An Iron Fist Joins the Malaria Wars," Scientist at Work, June 27).
A February 12, 2006 article by Kerry Burke in the New York Daily News describes "freegans," a subculture of garbage-eating activists who combat what many of them see as the food waste inherent in a consumer society -- by
New York, NY -- December 4, 2006. As the New York City Health Department prepares to vote tomorrow on its proposal to reduce heart disease risk by banning the use of trans fatty acids (TFAs) in City eateries, one science group argues that it would be wiser to educate consumers about more important causes of heart disease -- and that even advising daily alcohol consumption would make more health sense than banning trans fats.
This article appeared in the New York Post.
It's time to start the preparation for your multicourse serving of Thanksgiving chemicals.
This column appeared on NationalReview.com on November 2, 2006:
On October 30, a diverse collection of New Yorkers -- and nutrition activists from outside New York -- gathered at the Heath Department to offer their view on the proposed City ban on trans fats in restaurant fare. Hundreds of others poured into the hearing room just to learn if it really was true that a killer was on the loose in City eateries.
New York, NY -- December 11, 2006. The frequently-made claim that exposure to low doses of environmental chemicals is often more hazardous than exposure to high doses of the same chemical is false. So says a peer-reviewed report released this today by a national science panel. Proponents of the "low dose theory" or the "endocrine disruptor hypothesis" argue that tiny doses of chemicals can be harmful, and they demand the removal of such chemicals from a variety of consumer products.
New York, NY -- August 10, 2006. Anti-chemical environmental activists even want to ban chemicals that save lives in fires, according to a new report. A class of brominated flame retardants known as polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs) are under assault from environmental activists and regulators both in the United States and overseas.
An August 9, 2006 article by John Johnston noted a piece by ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross, reacting to an item in New England Journal of Medicine, about the importance of vaccination:
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