Last Tuesday, California voters, besides casting their ballots for president, also had the option in several counties to ban biotechnology-produced crops. Marin, Butte, San Luis Obispo, and Humboldt counties all voted on such measures, and the initiatives were rejected by voters in all but one county.

About a month ago, we noticed that some TV ads for the fast food chain Subway were sporting the prestigious logo of the American Heart Association (AHA). In particular, one ad implied Subway's food is uniquely helpful for weight loss. Since the AHA is a well-known and widely respected organization that promotes commonsense nutrition and balanced diets, we were surprised to see their apparent support of this type of advertising.

This letter in Nature 432, 15 (November 4, 2004) was a response to one from Consumers Union employees that criticized a symposium on organic foods organized by ACSH Advisor and Rutgers professor Joseph Rosen. ACSH Nutrition Director Dr. Ruth Kava was one of the presenters at the symposium. As usual, the critics couldn't fault the science, so they attacked ACSH's funding.
Industry Funding Doesn't Influence Our Reports
Sir--

It's been quite a rollercoaster six weeks for old-line pharmaceutical company Merck, based in New Jersey. As September ended, the company announced the voluntary withdrawal of its blockbuster anti-arthritis COX-2 inhibitor drug, Vioxx, due to cardiovascular toxicity. Subsequently, Merck has been embroiled in charges of a cover-up involving what they knew about Vioxx's side effects and when they knew it. The company faces legions of litigants led by tort-lawyer centurions, while TV and newspaper ads implore those "injured by Vioxx" to call for a free consultation.

This letter by ACSH Nutrition Director Dr. Ruth Kava was published in the October 31, 2004 New York Times Magazine in response to an article by Michael Pollen about American vs. French food fetishes:
Your amusing description of past and present American food phobias didn't go far enough. The present fear of genetically modified crops has fueled support for organically produced foods. One hundred years from now, Americans may view this penchant for supposed purity as strangely as we now view the discredited theories of Fletcher and Kellogg.

With severe limits on flu vaccine availability, it is only natural that the public will try to seek out other effective means of flu prevention. Feeding off the widespread panic over the flu and the desire for alternatives in flu prevention, an abundance of "flu remedies" is now available on the Internet, making strong and misleading claims. Vulnerable people, relatively unregulated "dietary supplements," and the vast territory of the Internet combine to create fertile ground for misinformation.

Outside View: Flu Vaccine Crisis or Not?
By Elizabeth M. Whelan
Outside View commentator
Published 10/27/2004 2:08 AM
WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson last week declared the sudden shortage of influenza vaccine in the United States is "not a health crisis." He argued that anxious people should be patient while the government works to reallocate the nation's limited supply of vaccines.

When items are scarce people line up for them in droves. Scarcity has cachet. There really is something to economists' thoughts about supply and demand.
A recent telling example is the flu shot.

One thing that you can say about the folks at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) -- they're certainly tenacious about their food vendettas! Once a food or ingredient has made the CSPI hate list, it's apparently there forever, whether or not any scientific evidence supports their viewpoint. A case in point is the CSPI crusade against olestra, the fat replacement ingredient that is used in potato chips and other savory snack foods.

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson this week declared that the sudden shortage of influenza vaccine in the United States is "not a health crisis." He argued that anxious Americans should be patient while the government works to reallocate the nation's limited supply of vaccines.
To his credit, Thompson was trying to prevent panic -- and prevent the long lines of flu-shot seekers we are increasingly seeing on the nightly news.