On May 29, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released specifications for purchase of irradiated ground beef for use in school lunches, though the decision to order irradiated beef will be made by local school districts. The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), a consortium of more than 350 physicians and scientists, urges local school boards and parents to familiarize themselves with the safety benefits of the irradiated ground beef that is now available for the National School Lunch Program.

The American Council on Science and Health turns 25 this year and its reputation for being one of the most controversial nonprofit groups around is still intact.
It is self-described as a consumer education organization "dedicated to providing the public with mainstream scientific information on issues related to food, nutrition, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, lifestyle, the environment and health."

Rep. Carolyn Maloney yesterday announced the latest of numerous bills in Congress aimed at finding environmental causes for breast cancer (in this case, specifically for breast cancer on the East Side of Manhattan), reported today's New York Sun. The Sun went on to quote ACSH Medical Director Dr. Gilbert Ross about why people are so eager to find a mysterious culprit for breast cancer (despite the higher mortality rate from other conditions, such as smoking-induced lung cancer):

The authors also show that concern about some risk factors, such as saccharine, reserpine, coffee, dietary fat, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and dichlorodiphenyltrichloro-ethane (DDT), has fallen by the wayside.
A brief quote that speaks volumes about the anti-chemical movement's misguided priorities, from a May 15 New England Journal of Medicine review of Oxford University Press's Textbook of Cancer Epidemiology

I applaud FDA Commissioner Dr. Mark McClellan's efforts to help sick patients gain desperately needed access to new cancer-fighting drugs ("FDA Gives Quick Approval to Cancer Drugs," Personal Journal, May 14). His bold initiative to include actual cancer specialists with hands-on patient care expertise in the FDA's deliberations on new drug approvals will save lives and extend the lives of many others who had little hope.

Over 50 years of scientific research have established that the irradiation of foods to minimize food-borne illness and decrease waste is both safe and effective. Physicians and scientists associated with the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) endorse the use of irradiation to enhance safety and supplement other food protection methods.

The specter of contagious disease often engenders a primal reaction based on fear, with resultant irrational behavior. SARS is no exception. Only a few weeks ago, New York's bustling Chinatown became a ghost town as a result.

First Edition, October 1982
Second Edition (revised and updated), July 1985
Third Edition (revised and updated), December 1988
Fourth Edition (revised and updated), March 1996

Executive Summary

"Republicans Seek to Protect Vaccine Makers"
headline from the San Francisco Chronicle/New York Times News Service, April 9, 2003
American Council on Science and Health president Dr. Elizabeth Whelan notes that since manufacturers are only being "protected" against scientifically groundless suits brought by people convinced they were made ill by vaccination (and the juries who love such stories), the headline should more accurately read: