OT: FOLLOW THE MONEY - Industry shill Whelan claims mercury fears unfounded

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compiled by Hokkanen, Minneapolis:

FOLLOW THE MONEY

Another misleading web article in the mercury disinformation

campaign, from the grand dame of faux public interest front

groups.

“A Look Back at the Great (Unfounded) Health Scares of 2004”

by Dr. Whelan, 12/29/04

Dr. M. Whelan is president of the American Council

on Science and Health.

Her email address is acsh@....

See “false claim” #6: Mercury in seafood threatens health.

See “false claim” #1: Childhood vaccines cause autism.

The sponsoring website, Tech Central Station, is owned by a

conglomerate -- DCI Group, L.L.C.

On its website TCS states that it is sponsored by Merck and

PhRMA, among others:

“Tech Central Station is supported by sponsoring

corporations that share our faith in technology and free

markets. Smart application of technology - combined with pro

free market, science-based public policy - has the ability

to help us solve many of the world's problems, and so we are

grateful to AT & T, Avue Technologies, The Coca-Cola Company,

ExxonMobil, General Motors Corporation, Intel, Mcs,

Merck, Microsoft, Nasdaq, PhRMA, and Qualcomm for their

support.”

Dr. M. Whelan resume, circa 1986 - from tobacco

litigation

http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2044702046-2092.html?start_page=19 & end_page=19

Whelan supporting pharmaceutical companies & attacking

former NEJM editor Marcia Angell

http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/whelan200409080850.asp

Whelan asking " Who says PCBs cause cancer? "

http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/PCBs-Cause-Cancer-Whelan-ACSH.htm

Whelan defending the use of trans fats in fast food

http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=12780

Whelan founds first of the " public interest pretender " front

groups

http://www.whale.to/m/acsh1.html

________________________

A Look Back at the Great (Unfounded) Health Scares of 2004

By Dr. M. Whelan

Published 12/29/2004

Perhaps we are a society that relishes bad news. Or maybe by

definition bad news is news. Whatever the explanation, 2004

was full of headlines about modern living allegedly making

us sick.

The top 10 health scares of the last 12 months -- described

below -- have some common characteristics: some of these

reports overlook the basic toxicological principle that " the

dose makes the poison " and assume that if a lot of something

is bad then a little is risky too; some rely on a single,

often unpublished study that means little out of the context

of other literature in the field; and many swallow whole the

baseless mantra " if it causes cancer in a lab animal, it

must be assumed to pose a human cancer risk. "

The top 10 unfounded scares for 2004 are:

1. Childhood vaccines cause autism.

This claim has been around for a while, but it received

enormous press exposure this year, with emphasis on the

claim that thimerosal, a vaccine preservative, is the

culprit. Coverage ranged from blatant scaremongering and

dismissal of scientific evidence to fairly unbiased

assessments of the data. The bottom line: to date, all the

evidence supports the view that there is no link between

thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism, or between any

vaccines and autism. This is the conclusion supported by the

body of published peer-reviewed scientific studies.

2. Farmed salmon causes cancer.

Last year, the Environmental Working Group launched this

scare, releasing a study of seven farmed salmon that they

said had measurable levels of PCBs -- industrial chemicals.

This year, an article in Science presented data showing that

farmed salmon had higher levels of PCBs than wild salmon.

But the warnings that found their way into the press were

exaggerated fears based on the assumption that because PCBs

are animal carcinogens they must pose a human cancer risk

even at trace levels. Indeed there is no evidence--even at

high levels -- that PCBs cause human cancer. Many synthetic

and natural chemicals in food cause cancer in high doses in

rodents--and those findings have no direct relevance for

human cancer risk.

3. Cell phones cause brain tumors.

Another oldie-but-goody made a comeback in 2004 when

researchers at an institute in Sweden released a study

supporting a link between cell phone use and acoustic

neuromas. Even the authors pointed out their study was small

and had never been replicated. Further, the study involved

analog cell phones, not the digital phones that are the vast

majority of those used today. But the story was widely

covered nonetheless. The mainstream scientific view is that

the health effects of using cell phones are negligible.

4. Nightlights cause leukemia.

In September 2004, scientists at a conference in Britain

suggested that increased light at night (not nightlights

specifically) may contribute to leukemia in children. Media

reports understandably caused anxiety in parents of young

children. But, while the rise in childhood leukemia

justifies legitimate research, there is currently no reason

to believe that nightlights pose any danger to children

(unless, of course, the bulb is really hot or they eat it).

5. Chemicals in cosmetics pose a heath hazard.

In June of 2004, the Environmental Working Group released

yet another report accusing a variety of cosmetic

manufacturers of using ingredients that increase the risk of

pregnancy problems or cancer. Once again, this scare was

based on the assumption that things that pose cancer in high

doses in rodents must pose a risk of human cancer, a claim

that has no basis whatsoever in scientific reality.

6. Mercury in seafood threatens health.

Mercury is a toxic metal, and at high levels it can indeed

pose a serious threat to human health. But again, media

reports overlooked the " dose makes the poison " rule. The

government has strict tolerance levels for mercury in fish,

and at the levels found in fish, mercury does not pose a

health hazard to humans.

7. Cheeseburgers cause heart disease.

When former President Bill Clinton announced just before

Labor Day that he had been diagnosed with severely blocked

coronary arteries and needed bypass surgery, the media had a

field day blaming his condition on his diet -- particularly

his penchant for fast food burgers and fries. Frequent film

footage showing the former President in front of Mc's

and Burger King filled the nightly news. While it is true

that lifestyle factors such as smoking, inactivity, and

obesity can raise the risk of a heart attack, so can a

family history of predisposition toward high " bad "

cholesterol, low " good " cholesterol, and high blood

pressure. For preventing heart disease, medications that

control blood pressure and cholesterol levels are more

important than avoiding cheeseburgers or any other specific

food.

8. Antibiotics cause breast cancer.

A flurry of media coverage followed a February article in

the Journal of the American Medical Association finding that

prescriptions for antibiotics had been more common among

women who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. But as an

editorial accompanying the article noted, " this study

provides many (or more) questions than answers " -- and did

little to further our understanding of the causes of breast

cancer.

9. Teflon causes health problems.

This health scare was a spin-off of some wrangling between

Teflon's manufacturer, DuPont, and the EPA, which wanted

more data on the presence (in the environment and in blood)

of chemicals used in producing Teflon. It really had nothing

to do with scientific evidence of harm to health, as some

media announced. There is no convincing scientific evidence

that the chemical harms human health, nor that it is present

in Teflon itself.

10. Soda causes esophageal cancer.

Saving the worst for last, this scare came on the scene when

scientists from India reported a correlation between a rise

in per capita consumption of soda in the U.S. and the

occurrence of esophageal cancer--which media interpreted as

a causal connection. Since this " study " did not have any

scientific findings about cancer risk--simply showing that

both soda consumption and esophageal cancer became more

prevalent over the same time period -- it is remarkable that

the mainstream media even reported it at all.

With a little luck, this round-up of 2004's worst unfounded

health scares will encourage you to be more skeptical the

next time you read about a new, supposedly dire, health

" threat, " and let's hope it will cause editors and

journalists to more seriously consider whether a story

really deserves coverage.

*

Whelan, Sc.D., M.P.H., is president of the

American Council on Science and Health.

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