A Noveber 11, 2005 article by Alicia Colon in the New York Sun described the ACSH presentation of the 2005 Sound Science Award to Michael Crichton:
The author of "Jurassic Park" and other big books was in Manhattan last week to receive the 2005 Sound Science Award from the American Council on Science and Health. While "State of Fear" is a work of fiction, it is exhaustingly researched and contains facts that belie the daily doomsaying from agenda-driven eco-alarmists. Mr. Crichton's latest novel, however, is unlikely to be made into any feature film, at least not in Hollywood. It debunks every cherished cause espoused by the hybrid car-, organic food-loving, global warming-fearing celebrities of La-La Land...
It was while researching a book in 1990 that he discovered that the highly publicized fears of DDT were found to be ungrounded decades later. At lectures, Mr. Crichton tells his audience that, "Banning DDT is one of the most disgraceful episodes in the 20thcentury history of America. We knew better and we did it anyway, and we let people around the world die and didn't give a damn."
It's no surprise that the ACSH was thrilled that a commercial novel could open the eyes of the public. This organization has been in the business of separating fact from fiction when it comes to medicine and science since 1978. Its primary aim is to help American consumers distinguish significant health hazards from hypothetical or trivial health risks...
Based in Manhattan, the ACSH publishes enlightening books and pamphlets that are invaluable in sorting out hype and hysteria from bona fide scientific research. "Facts Versus Fears" is a review of the greatest unfounded health scares of all time. It gives pertinent details of the panic, the reaction, and then the actual research conclusions of 27 health scares, including Love Canal, Three Mile Island, saccharin, Red Dye #2, cyclamates, alar, cellular phones, vaccines and autism, and, of course, DDT...
Life is stressful enough without worrying unnecessarily, and we should be grateful that the ACSH exists. ASCH President Elizabeth Whelan, Sc.D., M.P.H., recently wrote an article on the basic facts of the bird flu, which can be read on the Web site. Questions on mad cow disease can also be researched there as well.
Let's foil the fearmongers...