ACSH's unflappable medical director Gilbert Ross was quoted in the May 8, 2002 New York Times article "Study Finds Far Less Pesticide Residue on Organic Produce":
"So what?" said the council's Dr. Gilbert Ross. "The health risks associated with pesticide residues on food are not at all established. I think the amount of pesticide residues to which we are exposed on our foods pose no significant health risks to human beings."

As I learned one day at an alternative medicine expo, pseudo-scientific health remedies come in all forms: animal, vegetable, and mineral literally. Let's take them in reverse order.
Mineral: Healing with Crystals

For the last couple years, Michael Jacobson, head of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and Kelly Brownell, Yale psychology professor, have been promoting the idea of a "Twinkie tax." According to their reasoning, a small tax on so-called "junk foods" soft drinks and snack foods could be used to fund nutrition and exercise education programs to fight the national obesity epidemic. Their ideas were published in the American Journal of Public Health in 2000 (vol. 90, pg. 854).

"This quarter, when many life insurers missed earnings estimates, they blamed 'adverse mortality.' Like there's another kind?"
Jesse Eisinger, Wall Street Journal, May 6, 2002.

What's the connection between cloning, astrology, alternative medicine, and the Earth orbiting the sun?

Whether you are traveling around the world or relaxing at home, a safe, healthy vacation will add to your enjoyment. Here are some health and safety tips to keep in mind when planning your summer vacation.
The Dark Side of Summer Sun

In an unprecedented move, a cooperative apartment building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan has voted to bar cigarette smokers from purchasing apartments. New co-owners will be permitted to purchase only if they accept the co-ops terms: no cigarette smoking, even in their own apartment. If new residents violate the no-smoking code, they will be subject to eviction. The new rules will not apply to current apartment owners who purchased their residences prior to the new non-smoking code.

Cancer caused by mouthwash? Lethal doses of toothpaste?

A crippling condition may be striking media celebrities and people close to them: paranoia.
Ed McMahon blames a toxic "death mold" (in the words of his lawyer) for killing his dog Muffin and causing his own respiratory ailment.
John Travolta's wife believes her son's Kawasaki Syndrome, a rare vascular disorder, was caused by chemicals in their carpet.
A Vancouver neurologist thinks viral agents may have caused Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's, since three other people who worked with Fox on the Canadian sitcom Leo and Me in the 1970s also have the disease.