American Council on Science and Health

The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) is an organization founded in 1978 by Dr. Elizabeth Whelan that produces reports on issues related to food, nutrition, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, lifestyle, the environment and health. Its core membership is a board of 350 physicians, scientists and policy advisors who review the Council's reports and participate in ACSH seminars, press conferences, media communications and other educational activities.

ACSH frequently defends industry against claims that its products create risks of injury, ill-health or death. ACSH also criticizes some industries for making unscientific and overstated health claims, promoting dangerous natural supplements, or otherwise failing to tell the truth about scientific issues. Some of the scientific and professional journals that have recently published ACSH's work include: Medscape, CRC Critical Reviews in Clinical Laboratory Sciences, Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, Journal of Health Communications, Clinical Therapeutics, and Technology.

ACSH is a nonprofit institution, exempt from federal income tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code.

The ACSH has been accused of being a corporate front group in the guise of a neutral council on science. According to the Congressional Quarterly's Public Interest Profiles, Whelan's organization received more than 75 percent of their funding from the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Jeff Stier, Associate Director of ACSH, has claimed that this information is outdated and inaccurate, with ACSH receiving less than 50 percent of their funding from industry. Despite Dr. Whelan's oft-repeated denial that ACSH is influenced by its funders, there are instances in which funders are known to have participated directly in the production of council publications. According to the council's former administrative director, The Hershey Company did the in-house printing of an ACSH booklet on the health effects of sugar consumption, and the Stroh Brewery Company participated in the editing of a booklet about the health effects of alcohol. The participation of those companies was not acknowledged by ACSH.[1]

In 1982, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a watchdog and consumer advocacy group, published an extensive report on ACSH's practices that stated, "ACSH appears to be a consumer fraud; as a scientific group, ACSH seems to arrive at conclusions before conducting studies. Through voodoo or alchemy, bodies of scientific knowledge are transmogrified into industry-oriented position statements."[2] CSPI director Michael F. Jacobson said of ASCH, '"This organization promotes confusion among consumers about what is safe and what isn't... ACSH is using a slick scientific veneer to obscure and deny truths that virtually everyone else agrees with."[3]

In 2004, the now-defunct Tufts University Nutrition Navigator (a rating guide to nutrition websites) gave the ACSH site an overall rating of 20 out of 25 and an "Accuracy of Information" rating of 8 out of 10. However, it commented, "This site aims to arm consumers with the facts necessary to make wise decisions about health, but be aware that the information here is biased and represents a very conservative interpretation of current science. Consumers looking for a balanced debate on health issues will have to look elsewhere.