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January 29, 2007

Happy Milton Friedman Day

By Jeff Stier, Esq.

Today is Milton Friedman Day, a day to celebrate the life of the Nobel Prize winning economist who championed freedom (a life that will be described in the documentary The Power of Choice tonight on some PBS stations).

What does Milton Friedman have in common with the American Council on Science and Health? Besides defending progress against its foes, Friedman combined rigorous peer-reviewed work with the all too rare ability to bring his work to the public in an easy to understand way, and to defend the work when it ran counter to "conventional 'wisdom.'"

Here at ACSH, we spend months developing publications that are peer-reviewed by ten to thirty scientists, mostly chosen from our prestigious board of scientific advisors. Those academic reports are submitted to outside journals, where they undergo a second round of critical peer review. Then we turn the information in the journal papers into consumer-friendly publications, newspaper op-eds, blog entries, and TV appearances. The scaremonger groups whose claims we so often debunk tend to start with press releases and skip that step involving peer-reviewed science altogether.

Like Milton Friedman did, we understand that both elements -- solid research and effective communications, including the willingness to take stands contrary to popular wisdom -- are necessary to foster beneficial public policy, whether in economics or public health policy. With only the science, you may end up with top scientists who know the facts but do not speak out. With communications efforts but no science, you end up with activist groups.

ACSH salutes the work of Milton Friedman and vows to continue in his tradition of freedom, sound science, and effective communications.


Jeff Stier is an associate director of the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH.org, HealthFactsAndFears.com).

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Founded in 1978, ACSH is a consumer advocacy organization directed and advised by over 350 physicians, scientists and policy advisors. ACSH promotes the use of sound, peer-reviewed science in the formation of a full  spectrum of  public health policies, including those related to food, pharmaceuticals, environmental chemicals, lifestyle factors, consumer products and terrorism preparedness and response.