The universal advice that has made guzzling water a national pastime is more urban myth than medical dogma and appears to lack scientific proof..."I have found no scientific proof that absolutely every person must 'drink at least eight glasses of water a day'."
Heinz Valtin, M.D., in an August 8 press release from Dartmouth Medical School.
See the letter ACSH's Ruth Kava wrote to the Wall Street Journal in May and an article she wrote for Priorities last year about the "eight glasses a day" myth.

Just as the Stonewall riots of 1969 are remembered as the start of the gay rights movement, so too will July 27, 2002 be remembered as the start of New York City's smokers' rights movement.
At least, that was the plan of the group NYC C.L.A.S.H. (NYC Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment) as they organized a petition drive against proposed New York City laws that would banish smokers from restaurants and even bars a petition drive launched on the site of the pro-gay rights Stonewall riots.

I can attest to the almost hypnotic effect of the Happy Meal...I realize I am buying concentrated fat and acrylamides in a box, but they come with toys.
from an amusing July 29 Houston Chronicle article about suing fast-food companies for making people fat. Available at: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/editorial/outlook/1512903
Also see ACSH's comments on the closely-related threat of a "fat tax" on FactsAndFears.

In his 1869 Inaugural Addresses, Ulysses S. Grant said, "I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution."
To that end, the American Council on Science and Health is taking action to illustrate the absurdity of California's Proposition 65. Prop. 65 requires that manufacturers put a warning label on products even ones that pose no risk to human health simply because they contain tiny amounts of a chemical that can cause cancer in lab animals if given to them in massive doses the likes of which no human would consume.

A recent Associated Press story by David Ho reported that BioPulse, Inc. and BioPulse International, Inc. have settled federal charges with the Federal Trade Commission regarding how they marketed alternative therapies such as insulin-induced hypoglycemic treatment (IHT), which has been used to "treat" cancer.

The principle that "the dose makes the poison" in other words, that almost any substance can be toxic at high levels has been lost on Californians.

Eggs play a valuable role in helping consumers achieve a balanced, varied, and nutritious diet, the American Council on Science and Health concluded in a report released today.
"When people hear the word 'eggs,' they often think 'cholesterol' and 'bad,'" says Dr. Ruth Kava, ACSH's director of nutrition. "In fact," she continues, "although egg yolks are high in cholesterol, they only contribute about 1/3 of the typical American's dietary cholesterol. Eggs also provide essential nutrients, such as protein, riboflavin, folate, and vitamins B12, D and E."

Recent reports in the medical literature have profoundly shaken the popular and medical wisdom which held that estrogen-progestin combination therapy enhances life and health for women in the post-menopausal years. Women are relatively free from heart disease, bone loss, vaginal dryness and hot flashes prior to menopause, but manifest increased risk for such ailments after menopause. Therefore, it seemed intuitively obvious that a replenishing of the naturally diminished supply of estrogen and progesterone would restore women to their earlier, lower risk profile.

Eric Cohen points out some tensions though not actual contradictions in pro-biotech arguments ("Biotech Loses Its Innocence," June 24). He notes that biotech defenders claim the benefits of therapeutic cell-cloning are imminent while the possible horrors of radically altering the human gene code (or "eugenics," as Cohen puts it) remain far off. This is no rhetorical ploy on the part of scientists but an accurate summary of the state of research.