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This piece first appeared November 7, 2007 in the Washington Times and was reprinted on November 13 on South Korea's Segye.com:

Well, it turns out that the adage, "You can never be too rich or too thin," is only half true.
In a study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a team of researchers found that those who were either underweight or obese had higher death rates than those in the normal range. Perhaps that's not such a surprise. But the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) researchers also say overall mortality is reduced if you are a bit overweight.

A November 13, 2007 piece by Jeff Poor quoted ACSH's Dr. Ruth Kava on a rather misleading CBS piece about carbon monoxide use in meat packaging:
CBS Early Show correspondent Chip Reid used hamburger meat dated Nov. 26, 2005, to suggest consumers could be hoodwinked by meat packagers that use carbon monoxide in what is known as modified atmosphere packaging (MAP-CO).
"This meat is almost two years old, and it’s still red,” Reid said on the November 13 show.

A November 9, 2007 piece on diet mistakes quotes ACSH's Dr. Ruth Kava:
Most Americans, 76 percent in fact, believe they have healthy eating habits, according to a 2004 poll by Ipsos-Insight. Yet 57 percent of the nearly 4,000 adults polled also considered themselves overweight. How can this be? Either the healthy eaters aren't being active enough, or we all have different definitions of "healthy eating."

A November 8, 2007 "Planet in Peril" piece hosted by CNN's Anderson Cooper featured ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan responding to anti-chemical hype:
COOPER: Elizabeth, let's start with you. You think a lot of this is overblown. Most of it -- the presence of chemicals doesn't necessarily mean...

A November 7, 2007 piece by the Business & Media Institute's Jeff Poor quoted ACSH's Dr. Ruth Kava on a study of energy drinks:
On November 7, American Morning reported on a small study conducted by the American Heart Association with only 15 participants. They concluded energy drinks “may pose risks” for people with high blood pressure and heart disease.
But the study wasn’t conclusive enough to say energy drinks are a danger to just anyone.

A November 6, 2007 piece by David Harrison about what may be psychosomatic illnesses quotes ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan:
Studies over the past few years have described similar cases of inexplicable illnesses and symptoms. In many cases, the condition affects young women and may be caused by anxiety or stress, said Elizabeth Whelan, a doctor of public health and epidemiology in New York.
"There's no underlying biological explanation for it," she said. "They may act sick or feel sick, but there's nothing there to biologically explain it."

A November 5, 2007 piece by John Johnston of Boca Raton News quoted ACSH's Jeff Stier on multiple chemical sensitivity:
And what do the scientists say?
"Those who claim they have multiple chemical sensitivity do indeed suffer greatly," according to Jeff Stier, associate director of the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH).

A November 1, 2007 piece on drug imports noted ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross:
WAMU's "The Diane Rehm Show" on Thursday reported on the safety of imported drugs. The segment includes comments from Washington Post reporter Marc Kaufman; Gilbert Ross, medical/executive director of the American Council on Science and Health...

An October 30, 2007 piece by Cindy Skrzycki quotes ACSH's Dr. Whelan on the book The Secret History of the War on Cancer:
Elizabeth Whelan, president and founder of the American Council on Science and Health, a New York based group of doctors and scientists who question the reliability of the science government uses to regulate, agrees with Ames.

A new report in today's Journal of the American Medical Association documents the profound decline in vaccine-preventable disease and death for those infections with vaccines approved before 1980. The lifesaving effect of vaccines released subsequent to 1980 has also been dramatic, although somewhat less so than the older vaccines. The diseases eliminated -- or nearly eliminated -- include diphtheria, measles, mumps, pertussis (whooping cough), polio, congenital rubella syndrome (German measles), smallpox, and tetanus.

Are beta-carotene supplements on the way back? In the early 1990s beta-carotene was the darling of supplement purveyors as several observational epidemiologic studies had shown an association between consumption of beta-carotene-rich foods, beta-carotene levels in blood, and reduced risk of some chronic diseases. Mid-decade, though, randomized trials of beta-carotene supplements in smokers not only found no benefit to the pills, but even some slight increases in risk of lung cancer.

A new study by Belgian researchers found that taking oral contraceptives increases a woman's risk of atherosclerosis. A preliminary report of a study presented at the American Heart Association meeting indicated a small increase in the occurrence of fatty deposits in the arteries of the women studied, as evaluated by sonograms of the carotid and femoral arteries. The authors, led by Dr.

Okay, let's be clear, smoking is still the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Obesity, though, seems to be claiming much more attention from the media and the public health establishment -- perhaps because there has been recent controversy about exactly what the health effects of extra pounds might be. Two new studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) should help put this question into perspective.

A recent "health" column in USA Today ("'Everywhere chemicals' in plastics alarm parents," Oct. 30) attempts yet again to scare the public -- especially parents of young children -- about the alleged "endocrine-disrupting" effects of common chemicals, specifically bisphenol-A (BPA) and phthalates. The specific phthalate attacked, the vinyl plasticizer DEHP, is found in many healthcare products, including intravenous tubing and bags, and some instruments used in surgery.

October 22, 2007: FDA Man Likes Special Cigarettes, Hospital Workers Dislike Flu Shots
-- Quote to Note: “We know that vaccinating nursing home staff reduces influenza-related death rates among frail patients." --Jane Zucker, infectious disease epidemiologist.
-- Unbelievable. Not only does this word describe the weather in New York (high of 78 degrees in late October?), but it also describes several health-related stories published this weekend.

One fourth of cancer patients who are over the age of fifty and undergoing radiation therapy did not get their Centers for Disease Control-recommended annual flu vaccination, according to a study presented this week at the American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology. The study also found that more than one third of cancer patients over the age of sixty-five were not getting the pneumonia vaccine, which is also a CDC guideline.

Scientific studies that show an association between a factor and a health effect do not necessarily imply that the factor causes the health effect.

This letter appeared on October 16, 2007 in the Science section of the New York Times:
To The Editor:

This piece first appeared on HuffingtonPost.com.

This piece first appeared in the New York Post.
We have an epidemic of disbelief about cancer in this country -- but it's the opposite of what you probably expect. Cancer death rates have been falling for years, and now are falling even faster. Yet it's still stories about allegedlyignored cancer threats that grab our attention.

This piece first appeared in the New York Post and was noted on NY1 Itch for that day.

The days of deception on the health risks of cigarettes aren't over after all -- although now the distortion's coming from the "good guys."

An October 26, 2007 post by John Tierney on his New York Times science blog included a quote from ACSH's report on trans fat and this statement from ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan on the topic: