An October 12, 2005 column by Becky Fenger about Harvard School of Public Health's award to the unscientific Erin Brockovich quotes ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan on the matter:
"The only further move Harvard could make to elevate this travesty from the absurd to the surreal would be to ask Julia Roberts to accept the award on behalf of Erin Brockovich,

Much has been written in the past two weeks on editorial pages and blogs -- including this one -- about the travesty of the upcoming presentation of the Harvard School of Public Health's highest award, the Julius Richmond Award, to environmental activist Erin Brockovich. But no commentator to date has identified the real victim of this ill-suited award: the credibility of all public health scientists.

An ironically timed set of news items came to my attention recently. On one hand, a new report in the journal Archives of Neurology revealed that consuming more than two fish items weekly was associated with a reduction in cognitive decline in older Americans, by over 10%, compared to those who ate little or no fish.

According to Kevin Trudeau, in Natural Cures "They" Don t Want You to Know About -- which has been America's best-selling advice book for some three months now -- the government, in the guise of the Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drug Administration, is in cahoots with the drug industry and medical establishment to keep Americans sick and dependent on patented pharmaceuticals. Further, pork is poison, we should eat only organic and kosher meat, and tap water'll kill us all and is dangerous whether we drink it or bathe in it.

This week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and General Electric (GE) -- described by Bloomberg.com as "the world's second-biggest company by market value" -- reached agreement on plans to begin removing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from the Hudson River. Specifically, GE agreed to meet EPA demands to remove 10% of the PCBs along a forty-mile stretch of the river in upstate New York. Negotiations are still underway regarding the cleanup of the other 90%, and EPA will sue GE if they do not agree to a second phase of the removal process.

An October 6, 2005 article by John Luik on TechCentralStation about the California attorney general's suit against foods containing acrylamide noted ACSH president Dr. Elizabeth Whelan's summary of the issue:

Re "The Senator Surgeon Explains Himself," a box in "Fighting for Their Lives" (Sept. 5): Senator Frist continues to express his belief that the human embryo has moral significance. He has recently argued, however, that the federal government should fund research involving embryos left over from in vitro fertilization procedures, since they are likely to be destroyed anyway and should be used toward a positive end. Interestingly, Frist has yet to urge the improvement of current IVF technologies to prevent the accumulation of surplus embryos in the first place.

An October 2, 2005 editorial by Thomas Bray notes the excesses of the environmental movement -- and notes the effort by ACSH president Dr. Elizabeth Whelan to draw attention to Harvard School of Public Health's unwise decision to give an award to Erin Brockovich:

An October 1, 2005 article by Michael Coulter on the Heartland Institute's website notes the CDC's latest report on biomonitoring and quotes ACSH president Dr. Elizabeth Whelan summarizing the conclusions of ACSH's own recent report, Biomonitoriing: Measuring Levels of Chemicals in People -- and What the Results Mean:

A September 30, 2005 item in Investor's Business Daily notes Harvard School of Public Health's misguided award to Erin Brockovich and the response of ACSH president Dr. Elizabeth Whelan:
The Julia Richmond Award is given, Harvard says, to those who "have promoted and achieved high standards for public health conditions."