American Council on Science and Health

The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) describes itself as "a consumer education consortium concerned with issues related to food, nutrition, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, lifestyle, the environment and health.""About ACSH", American Council on Science and Health, accessed 18 February 2009. It defends GM foods, industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals, plastics and food additives. It attacks organic agriculture, media 'scares' and environmentalists who raise the alarm about chemicals.See articles at "Health Issues", American Council on Science and Health, accessed 18 February 2009.
==Industry funding==
According to John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton, ACSH is "an industry front group that produces PR ammunition for the food processing and chemical industries".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. 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.Sharon Beder, "Global Spin: The Corporate Assault on Environmentalism", 2nd ed., Green Books, Devon, UK, 2002. ACSH stopped disclosing corporate donors in the early 1990s."Non-Profit Organizations with Ties to Industry", Integrity in Science, Center for Science in the Public Interest, accessed 18 February 2009.
ACSH was founded in 1978 by Elizabeth Whelan, who is still its president, and Frederick Stare.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. 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.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.
==Riskometer==
ACSH has put together a website, Riskometer.org, to demonstrate that the risks posed by industrial chemicals are very small compared to other risks people are exposed to, particularly smoking: "Favorite scares include ones about traces of various chemicals in the environment, and about both synthetic and natural food constituents." It argues that efforts to regulate these chemicals are inappropriate: "Such misdirection of public attention fuels unnecessary anxiety and raises the costs of consumer products for all without any proof of public benefit.""Riskometer and Risk Rings", American Council on Science and Health, accessed 12 March 2009. 
Such ranking of risks ignore factors such as whether a particular risk is taken on voluntarily (such as smoking) or involuntarily (such as occupational and environmental risks), possible synergistic effects of chemicals, whether there are less toxic alternatives, and whether people are informed of the risks they are exposed to so they can make their own choices (as in the case of food additives).
==Staff 2015==
*Elizabeth M. Whelan – President
*Ana Marcelo – Executive assistant to the president
*Josh Bloom – Director of chemical and pharmaceutical sciences
*Gilbert Ross – Medical/Eexecutive director
*Ariel Savransky – Associate director of public health
*Ana Simovska – Director of video production
*Erik Lief – Director of communications
*William McCain – Development assistant
*Cheryl E. Martin – Director of development
*Ruth Kava - Senior nutrition fellow Meet the team ACSH, accessed 8 April 2015 
==Founders, Trustees and Advisors==
ACSH trustees and founders include:"Trustees and Founders Circle", American Council on Science and Health, accessed 18 February 2009. 
* Henry I. Miller of the Hoover Institution, "who campaigned on behalf of fat substitute Olestra"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.
* Norman Borlaug of Texas A&M University, well known supporter of GM crops. 
* Thomas DeGregori of the University of Houston, well known supporter of GM crops.
* Alan Moghissi, "a former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official who had served on a panel to challenge the EPA’s policy requiring asbestos removal from schools and other public buildings".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. 
* Albert Nickel, from the PR firm Lyons Lavey Nickel Swift, whose motto is “We change perceptions”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. 
* Lorraine Thelian, a senior partner at PR firm Ketchum Communications, whose clients include Dow Chemical, the Aspirin Foundation of America, Bristol Myers Squibb, and the National Pharmaceutical Council.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.
ACSH advisors include Dennis Avery of the Hudson Institute who has also contributed to the many ACSH articles promoting GM and denigrating organic food."Scientific Advisors", American Council on Science and Health, accessed 18 February 2009.
*See a full list of the ACSH Scientific advisors 2009
==Notes==
Category:Food lobbyists and PR consultantsCategory:GMCategory:GM Lobby Groups