We at ACSH are sure that you have heard us comment repeatedly that nothing surprises us anymore, because we ve already heard it all.
Yet, we must once again eat crow, because we STILL can t get this right. Just when we think (or are maybe even sure) we ve seen it all, it turns out we haven t. Not even close this time.
Chemophobia
Steve Savage, an expert on agriculture, pesticides and GM foods has posted an intriguing piece on Science 2.0 (the same site on which ACSH s Dr. Josh Bloom now regularly contributes).
Savage has a lot to say. In his piece, entitled Our Farmers Get An A+ For Low Pesticide Residues, he discusses a recent report by the USDA which examined pesticide residues on food.
From the USDA report: "The Pesticide Data Program provides reliable data through rigorous sampling that helps assure consumers that the produce they feed their families is safe."
Here we go again. Mixing science with politics. We all know how well that works.
Yet, Paul Joseph Watson, writing on Infowars.com manages to do just this with a side order of chemical scares tossed in, and the result is predicable a big mess.
Dr. Josh Bloom on Science 2.0, February 19, 2014.
Wherever he is, Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim a/k/a Paracelsus must be doing the Foxtrot in his grave. Because somehow a bunch of dopes have managed to correct something...[Read more].
There are chemical scares and there are chemical scares. Some are valid, some are not. Some are just plain crazy. Today we look at crazy.
Parabens (derivatives of para-hydroxybenzoic acid, thus the name) have been used forever as preservatives. And they have been the target of consumer and environmental groups for almost as long.
Which is almost comical, considering it would be difficult to find a safer groups of chemicals.
The way that some folks push all-natural foods, you d reasonably assume they contain no chemicals but boy would you be wrong!
Dr. Geoffrey Kabat, in his blog on Forbes.com, elegantly reinforces a core ACSH message: That poor science is the basis for many of the scares promulgated by various activist groups.
Fear of chemicals all around us, especially in our food, can be of great concern to the consumer. However, such concerns (or even fears) are unfounded based on the science.
Every so often you can make a difference. When ACSH s Dr. Josh Bloom, a long time resident of Ocean Beach on Fire Island, learned that his close friend Jim Capuano a six year survivor of stage-4 colon cancer
The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) is pleased to announce the release of a new book and companion friendly, abbreviated position paper, Scared to Death: How Chemophobia Threatens Public Health.
The book is authored by Jon Entine, a scholar with the American Enterprise Institute and highly regarded science journalist.