The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) and its irrepressible President Elizabeth M. Whelan, Sc.D., M.P.H. are an important counter weight to scare-mongering pseudo-scientific organizations.
ACSH has often spoken out on pesticide issues with pieces such as…
An Unhappy Anniversary: The Alar ‘Scare’ Ten Years Later …
‘A’ is for ‘Asinine’: Alar and 60 Minutes
The Great Apple Scare: Alar 20 Years Later
ACSH has won widespread praise. The very distinguished Michael T Osterholm, Ph.D., M.P.H., Director Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, University of Minnesota, for example, who showed great bravery in speaking out in the Perishable Pundit in the midst of the Salmonella Saintpaul crisis in a piece we called, Dr. Michael Osterholm, Esteemed Authority On Public Health, Speaks Frankly About The FDA, The CDC And The Incompetent Management of the Salmonella Saintpaul Tomato Outbreak Investigation, has said this of ACSH: “It’s hard to get people away from the extreme positions. That’s why I support ACSH so much… I believe it’s one of the most centrist and most intellectually honest groups we’ve got today!”
Just recently ACSH helped us get our widely praised piece critiquing the Center for Science in the Public Interest “riskiest foods” list before many prominent scientists by publishing a link in its “Morning Edition”:
Jim Prevor of PerishablePundit.comthoroughly debunked CSPI’s report and said of it in a letter to ACSH, “It was really a terrible disservice to consumers, who might forgo healthy foods because of being scared to death by this publicity, and to farmers, whose livelihoods will be impacted by such publicity. The list is a horrible misuse of surveillance data. It is basically a fundraising tool and a scare tactic to encourage a panicky adoption of food safety legislation rather than allowing for thoughtful consideration of the nature of risk.”
A really clever device that ACSH developed years ago was to publish a “Holiday Dinner Menu” that highlighted many of the naturally occurring chemicals in foods. What could more clearly show the hysteria of some over trace amounts of chemical residue when all food, quite naturally, is composed of all kinds of chemicals — some of them naturally occurring carcinogens — at least at high does in rodents!
You can look at the menu right here.
As it happens, some donors to ACSH have agreed to match donations made this week on a three-to-one basis. As a result ACSH has offered some incentives:
Thanksgiving marks the start of the holiday season this week, andACSH’s Holiday Dinner Menu takes a look at the festive cuisine that makes this time of year so special.
“The Holiday Dinner Menu is an ACSH classic,” says ACSH’s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. “It shatters the myth that the mere presence of ‘chemicals’ in food is somehow dangerous.”
“It outlines in detail a few of the myriad chemicals we eat every day, including supposed ‘toxins’ and ‘carcinogens’ — all courtesy of Mother Nature — as exemplified by each course in a typical Thanksgiving dinner,” adds ACSH’s Dr. Gilbert Ross. “We eat these substances every day, and yet we suffer no adverse effects. If we treated natural chemicals as we do synthetic ones, banning those that at high dose cause cancer in rodents, there would be little left to eat.”
The Holiday Dinner Menu is a must-have for everyone’s library. In the spirit of ACSH’s 3-for-1 matching fundraiser, we have a special 3-for-1 offer for you: any donor who gives at least $50 this week will receive not only a free copy of our Holiday Dinner Menu (while supplies last), but also two other surprise reports from ACSH’s archives. It’s a great way to triple your impact as the season of giving begins.
You can donate by clicking here or calling toll free: 1-866-905-2694. Thanks and enjoy your holiday chemicals!
We’ve made our donation so that we can get the Holiday Dinner Menu, the free reports and so that our “giving power” can get multiplied through the 3-for-1 matching fundraiser.
If you are in a position to do so, this is a great way to give thanks that there are rational scientists out there willing to fight the good fight against junk science.
You can donate here and, if you can, do so now so that ACSH will get the benefit of the 3-for-1 match.
