By Elizabeth M. Whelan, Sc.D., M.P.H.
Posted: Thursday, May 15, 2008

LETTER
Publication Date: May 15, 2008

The American Council on Science and Health sent the following letter to Minnesota's Gov. Pawlenty after reading about his veto of a bill banning two chemicals. We extend our gratitude to him for considering the actual scientific facts, and not bowing under political pressure.

 

Dear Gov. Pawlenty:

We at the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) wish to express our admiration for your sound science-based decision to veto the bill that would have banned certain chemicals from children's products and consumer goods in Minnesota. Of course, we also offer our support of your efforts to prevent this counterproductive ban, which has absolutely no basis in scientific evidence, from being passed over your veto.

ACSH is a consumer-education and advocacy organization, a non-profit, which has as its core a 400-member advisory panel, made up of esteemed academicians from every public health-related discipline, from all over North America. All our work is peer-reviewed before publication. We have studied DECA-type flame retardants and phthalates extensively over the past decade. Our work has been published in medical journals, lending further support to your determination not to allow agenda-driven politics and self-styled "consumer groups" to dictate Minnesota's health policies to the state's economic detriment.

Once again, we applaud your efforts and congratulate you on having the courage to flout the popular "wisdom" on this controversial subject.


Sincerely,


Dr. Elizabeth M. Whelan
President
American Council on Science and Health
New York, NY

 

See also: ACSH's report on Brominated Flame Retardants.