American Council on Science and Health
The American Council on Science and Health, Inc. (ACSH). It describes itself as "a consumer education consortium concerned with issues related to food, nutrition, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, lifestyle, the environment and health."[1] Its website contains a number of articles promoting GM foods and attacking organic agriculture.
According to John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton, ACSH is "an industry front group that produces PR ammunition for the food processing and chemical industries".[2] ACSH attacks any criticisms of corporate products as not having "a sound scientific basis". It has received funds from food processing and beverage corporations including Burger King, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, NutraSweet, Nestle USA as well as chemical, oil and pharmaceutical companies such as Monsanto, Dow USA, Exxon, Union Carbide and others.[3] ACSH stopped disclosing corporate donors in the early 1990s.[4]
ACSH was founded in 1978 by Elizabeth Whelan, who is still its executive director, and Frederick Stare.[5] Despite the industry funding of her group, Whelan is portrayed in the mass media as an independent scientist. Martin Donohoe noted in Z Magazine:
- Dr. Whelan claims that ACSH accepts funding from corporations “as long as no strings are attached.” However, in 1982, ACSH filed a friend-of-the-court brief in a lawsuit brought by the Formaldehyde Institute. The brief was paid for by Georgia-Pacific Co., a leading manufacturer of formaldehyde and a member of the Formaldehyde Institute. Georgia-Pacific paid its Washington law firm $40,000 to write the brief, which ACSH then submitted under its name. Formaldehyde has been classified as a human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and as a probable human carcinogen by the EPA.[6]
Whelan defends petrochemical companies, the nutritional values of fast foods, and the safety of saccharin, pesticides and growth hormones for dairy cows. She claims that the US government spends far too much on unproven health risks such as dioxin and pesticides because of the public’s “unfounded fears of man-made chemicals and their perception of these chemicals as carcinogens”.[7] Whelan is the author of 'Panic in the Pantry' and 'Toxic Terror'. Whelan says: 'I've been called a paid liar for industry so many times I've lost count.'
ACSH directors include Henry I. Miller of the Hoover Institution, Norman Borlaug of Texas A&M University and Thomas DeGregori of the University of Houston, all well known supporters of GM crops. Its advisors include Dennis Avery of the Hudson Institute who has also contributed to the many ACSH articles promoting GM and denigrating organic food.
Notes
- ↑ "About ACSH", American Council on Science and Health, accessed 18 February 2009.
- ↑ John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton, "Toxic Sludge is Good For You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry", Common Courage Press, Monroe, Maine, 1995, p. 189.
- ↑ Sharon Beder, "Global Spin: The Corporate Assault on Environmentalism", 2nd ed., Green Books, Devon, UK, 2002.
- ↑ "Non-Profit Organizations with Ties to Industry", Integrity in Science, Center for Science in the Public Interest, accessed 18 February 2009.
- ↑ Martin Donohoe, "Corporate Front Groups and the Abuse of Science: The saga of the American Council on Science and Health", Z Magazine Online, Vol. 20 No. 10, October 2007, accessed 18 February 2009.
- ↑ Martin Donohoe, "Corporate Front Groups and the Abuse of Science: The saga of the American Council on Science and Health", Z Magazine Online, Vol. 20 No. 10, October 2007, accessed 18 February 2009.
- ↑ Sharon Beder, "Global Spin: The Corporate Assault on Environmentalism", 2nd ed., Green Books, Devon, UK, 2002.
