Barbara Seaman's credentials in the anti-estrogen community go way back. She and her colleagues in women's empowerment organizations deserve credit for getting clearer information to the public about potential side-effects of prescription hormones in the early 1970s. She also helped to publicize the dangers of putting pregnant women on the estrogen DES, an all-too-common practice in the 1950s and 60s.

Suppose your gracious new neighbor took you aside one day and quietly warned that serving non-organic fruits and vegetables to your family was endangering your kids' health. Suppose she offered a professional-looking "index of danger" showing your supermarket's peaches, apples, spinach, celery, and potatoes were all too dangerous to eat. You'd probably be devastated.

Here at the American Council on Science and Health, under the leadership of our president, Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, we've always thought of ourselves as cautious, non-panicky promoters of common sense on nutrition matters. And we tend to think of the Center for Science in the Public Interest as scaremongers, always looking for new foods to denounce.

Executive Summary

Introduction

Chefs at some of New York's finest restaurants including Blue Water Grill, Atlantic Grill and Blue Fin are practicing the latest form of culinary political correctness: banning farmed salmons from their menus, to supposedly protect their patrons' health.
The cause? A flurry of media reports that an environmental advocacy organization, the Environmental Working Group (EWG), found unusually high levels of PCBs the long-banned industrial chemicals that news reports claimed "caused cancer" in farmed salmon.

Orange-juice makers claim they can reduce high blood pressure and help prevent stroke. Saw Palmetto herbs boast they can "support prostate health." Dried plums (nee prunes) are touted for cardiovascular benefits. These claims are not backed up by solid scientific evidence, but under federal law they are legal.

Editor's note: We just received this letter, a reminder that weighing long-term risks and benefits is often hardest for the young, which is what makes them such an important market for cigarette manufacturers. To help kids get a better handle on the risks, we'll soon publish a teen version of our book Cigarettes: What the Warning Label Doesn't Tell You, and for smokers of all ages interested in knowing some of the quit-assist options, there's our book Kicking Butts in the Twenty-First Century.