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Modern life has buffered us from so many of the constant dangers of pre-modern life that few of us fear them. Unfortunately, the removal of the constant threat of disease and starvation seems to cause us to fill in the vacuum with new fears. Instead of fear-mongering, though, the happy story of the last half-century should be told in terms of the cancer epidemics or other dark, unseen forces that didn't strike us.

A September 29, 2005 column by Michael Fumento criticizes the Harvard School of Public Health's award to Erin Brockovich, noting ACSH president Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, who brought the dishonorable honor to public attention:

The U.S. Senate is moving closer this week to passing legislation that will lift restrictions on the importation of cheap drugs from countries like Canada to the United States.

A Wednesday, September 7, 2005 article by Spyros Andreopoulos from the San Francisco Chronicle's website notes ACSH's reasons for thinking that California Attorney General Bill Lockyer's suit against purveyors of foods containing acrylamide is bogus:

A report in the July 28 New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) provides no support for the efficacy of echinacea, one of the most popular herbal products, in preventing or alleviating the symptoms of the common cold. Millions of Americans use supplemental echinacea, which is made from any one of several species of the purple coneflower, for just those purposes. But should they rely on it?

Milk has earned a healthy reputation: adding strength to bones and providing protein, multiple vitamins, and minerals, among other benefits. Its recent hype as a weight loss aid is still being debated, with studies showing mixed results.

The beverage industry has taken on more than just the challenge of making good-tasting drinks and is now aiming (or just claiming) to help the public lose weight, gain energy, and increase its physical strength and endurance. Based on sales, consumers seem to trust these claims, but are such benefits possible from a glorified soft drink?

A September 30, 2005 item in Investor's Business Daily notes Harvard School of Public Health's misguided award to Erin Brockovich and the response of ACSH president Dr. Elizabeth Whelan:
The Julia Richmond Award is given, Harvard says, to those who "have promoted and achieved high standards for public health conditions."

In a September 27, 2005 column largely dependent upon the alarmist Center for Science in the Public Interest for information, Lisa Ryckman does quote ACSH president Dr. Elizabeth Whelan on the scare campaign against cyclamates:
And what of cyclamates? That faux-sweetener saga began in 1937 with a discovery by chemistry graduate student Michael Sveda, who tasted something sweet on the cigarette he'd just stuck in his mouth while mucking about in the lab.

An October 6, 2005 article by John Luik on TechCentralStation about the California attorney general's suit against foods containing acrylamide noted ACSH president Dr. Elizabeth Whelan's summary of the issue:

Today's news that a jury found the pharmaceutical company Merck negligent in its marketing of the painkiller Vioxx, awarding $229 million in damages, is bad news for all consumers who hope that pharmaceutical companies will continue to develop new drugs -- to address not only their aches and pains but life-threatening conditions like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.

An August 31, 2005 article by Nathaniel West in the Journal Gazette & Times-Courier concerned people like Soso Whaley who've lost weight while eating fast food, and the piece quoted ACSH's Dr. Ruth Kava:
According to the physician who reviewed Whaley's program, success stemmed from the age-old advice about healthy living: Eat in moderation, and exercise.

An August 14, 2005 article by John Johnston quotes ACSH's Dr. Ruth Kava:
"Researchers have concluded that our society must recognize that sedentary lifestyles are having a negative impact on the health and well being of our youth," according to Ruth Kava, director of nutrition at the American Council on Science and Health.

An August 16, 2005 article by Amanda Gardner of HealthDay News quotes ACSH's Dr. Ruth Kava on the question of a possible mechanism for cardiovascular benefits from garlic:
"It's still in the realm of very basic research," added Ruth Kava, director of nutrition at the American Council on Science and Health in New York City. "Whether or not it's going to have any real impact in terms of human health, it's much too early to say."

The huge anti-smoking establishment remains mostly ineffective at getting young people to avoid smoking and getting current smokers to quit. Much work remains. The question is, though: How much work?
Less than a decade ago, we would have been thrilled if Big Tobacco acknowledged that smoking was dangerous and addictive or gave in to demands to be more honest about the wide range of negative health consequences of smoking. If only they ran ads telling people that there are no safe cigarettes and that the safest thing to do is to quit, we fantasized.

When articles like a new one alleging sinister hidden side effects from common drugs migrate from Consumer Reports to Fox News, you know how urgent and important ACSH's science-based outreach is.

The world is keeping a vigilant watch on the "Asian bird flu" situation in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe. "Bird flu" is a severe form of avian influenza, a viral disease that normally only infects birds and pigs.
The avian influenza virus has many forms of pathogenicity ranging from mild to severe strains, the latter of which can produce devastating respiratory problems and rapid, widespread mortality in poultry and other birds.

The beautiful thing about science is that it is constantly changing, as new facts bump up against old ideas, theories, and received wisdom. So it should come as no surprise to learn that two reports of recent vintage now have to be revised.

This piece first appeared in the December 16, 2005 New York Post.
Public-health advocates have to rally popular sentiment and political support to achieve many of their goals -- but increasingly, they seem to put politics before science.

A Noveber 11, 2005 article by Alicia Colon in the New York Sun described the ACSH presentation of the 2005 Sound Science Award to Michael Crichton:

ACSH's board of scientific advisors contains experts in a broad range of disciplines. But we have only a few economists.

Cosmetics are health and beauty products such as toothpaste, antiperspirant, lipstick, eyeliner, and hand lotion. Many of us have used one or more of these products every day for many years without giving them a second thought. Recently, some activist groups have claimed that cosmetics pose dangers to our health, and may even be cancer-causing.

In order to save more of the almost 40,000 Americans who die annually of the flu, we should be mandating the vaccination of school children, in addition to infants and toddlers as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The experience in Japan over several decades supports this position.
When Japanese school children got a flu vaccine, the death and morbidity rate among the elderly there went down dramatically because of reduced exposure to the flu virus from their grandchildren in the home.

This article appeared in the Washington Legal Foundation's March 10, 2006 Legal Opinion Letter (Vol. 16, No. 7).

A National Review online roundtable about bird flu included this comment from ACSH's Dr. Whelan.