Fw: This is the GARBAGE put out by ACSH & the Plastic Sturgeons

[Guest guest]

From: ilena rose <ilena@...>

Sent: Friday, February 16, 2001 11:39 AM

Subject: This is the GARBAGE put out by ACSH & the Plastic Sturgeons

> Jack Fisher is a former Prez of ASPRS & a vocal PRO=SILCONE voice for

years

> ... ACSH has many corporate funders including BMS and the Dows ... ACSH

has

> also been heavily funded for years by Monsanto and other corporations in

> the food industry. Fisher is even wrong about when implants were put on

the

> market to unsuspecting women.

>

>

> Barrett of ACSH is presently suing me for " libel " and " conspiracy

to

> libel " ~ he is a highly aggressive ACSH mouth and the head of

> www.Quackwatch.com. Co-defendants are Dr. Hulda and others I've

never

> met. More on this to come ...

>

>

>

> http://www.drkoop.com/news/focus/2001/jan/13_junkscience.html

>

> Editorial: Junk Science in Historical Perspective

>

>

>

>

> * ACSH Editorial: Sorting Out Junk Science

> * ACSH: No Link Between Breast Implants and Disease

> * ACSH Editorial: Junk Science at Its Worst - Caffeinated Sodas and

> Cigarettes

>

>

>

>

> Jan 12 2001 15:25:22

> Jack C. Fisher, M.D.

> American Council on Science and Health

>

> Nearly 10 years ago, A. Kessler, M.D., commissioner of the U.S. Food

> and Drug Administration, proposed a moratorium on the use of silicone-gel

> devices for breast augmentation. This initiative contravened what

Kessler's

> scientific experts, and an advisory panel composed of FDA designees, had

> recommended. Kessler subsequently dispatched U.S. Marshals to a

> Minneapolis, Minn., storehouse, where they seized 55 cartons of breast

> implants. The FDA tipped off the media concerning this mission; television

> cameras were in position before the marshals arrived.

>

> The basis for this interdiction wasn't clear. The product had sold since

> 1966. No indictments ensued in conjunction with its prohibition, and no

> infraction of any governmental regulation concerning the product was ever

> established. Nevertheless, its manufacturer -- the FDA having made the

> company and silicone-gel breast implants objects of nationwide adverse

> publicity -- shortly filed for bankruptcy.

>

> The FDA's aggressiveness on the issue seemed to astound plastic surgeons.

> Physicians had effectively used implantable silicone devices, of more than

> 350 types, for 40 years. Probably few surgeons were aware of the

historical

> precedents for regulatory agencies' acting according to political aims

> instead of according to available scientific evidence.

>

> Should We Drop Soda Pop?

>

> Almost a century ago, former U.S. Department of Agriculture chemist Harvey

> Washington Wiley, M.D., as the first director of the FDA, sent U.S.

> Marshals to a Tennessee railroad station, where they seized Coca-Cola

syrup

> that had been in transit from Atlanta to Chattanooga. The 1911 trial that

> followed on this was referred to in court records as " United States vs.

> Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola. " The decision on which its

> conclusion hinged concerned whether or not the beverage producer had

> knowingly poisoned consumers. The purported toxicant was not cocaine,

whose

> extraction from the soft drink's coca-leaf ingredient had been routine for

> many years. It was caffeine. That both coffee and tea contained much more

> caffeine than Coca-Cola had ever contained was not an important

> consideration for Wiley in his pursuit of food purity. Like Kessler, Wiley

> strategically attracted publicity to his pursuit. He even brought his

bride

> to Chattanooga on the pretext of a honeymoon.

>

> Numerous experts on both sides of the issue were called to testify, the

> defense prevailed, and the FDA backed down -- temporarily. Efforts to cast

> public doubt on the safety of Coca-Cola persisted for several more

decades.

> In 1964, consumerist Ralph Ginzberg, the Ralph Nader of his day, spoke of

> " a massive dossier of medical evidence indicting Coca-Cola as one of the

> most poisonous beverages ever found in a bottle that doesn't bear a skull

> and crossbones! "

>

> Just as Coca-Cola, not caffeine, was the focus of the FDA's action in

1909,

> the implantable silicone-gel device, not its silicone polymer, was

> Kessler's target in 1992. Ample investigation had shown that silicone is

> relatively inert in biologic tissues, and in then recent immunotoxicology

> studies funded by another government agency, scientists had found that

> silicone was unlikely to induce an immune response. In its implied quest

> for an adverse immunogenic consequence of implanting silicone-gel devices

> in breasts, the FDA under Kessler apparently disregarded the conclusions

> from those studies. Furthermore, the agency seemed as oblivious to the

> question " Why haven't the many nonbreast-related silicone devices proved

> injurious during the 40 years of the use of such devices? " as it had been

> to the fact that coffee and tea each made for far more exposure to

caffeine

> than did Coca-Cola.

>

> Folly Marches On

>

> The expression " junk science " has often been used to highlight false

> premises that can become the bases of wasteful public policies. Perhaps no

> English word summarizes the essence of junk science better than " folly, "

> which usually refers to:

>

> * A lack of good sense, understanding, or foresight.

> * Foolery, especially rash or extraordinarily or tragically foolish

> actions.

> * A foolish, unwise, unprofitable or excessively costly undertaking,

> especially one whose effects are absurd or adverse.

> * A foolish belief.

>

> In " The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam " (first published in 1984),

> the distinguished historian Barbara W. Tuchman (1912 to 1989) attributed

> history's salient instances of misgovernment to tyranny, ambition,

> incompetence and folly. Although misregulation by government agencies can

> result from tyranny, ambition and/or incompetence, more often its source

is

> folly. According to Tuchman, part of what makes a governmental policy a

> folly is the coexistence of that policy and recognizability of a policy

> likely to be more productive. On this basis, wherever science and politics

> intersect, folly is reasonably definable as a belief or policy founded on

> unscientific, meager or sham evidence when ample sound evidence exists

that

> justifies a rival, especially a contrary, belief or policy.

>

> Soda-pop caffeine and breast-implant silicone were among an expansive

> medley of substances branded in the 20th century as toxic by agitators who

> seemed to delight in sounding off on hypothetical risks. It seems that

> however comprehensive biological understanding may become, there

inevitably

> will be proponents of unfounded biological beliefs.

>

> More than two dozen studies on implantable silicone-gel devices have been

> completed since Kessler's FDA called for a moratorium on their use as

> breast augmenters. Virtually all of these studies supported the findings

> from all of the relevant studies completed before the FDA's mandate --

that

> is to say, there is no reasonable evidence of a causal relationship

between

> silicone exposure and any systemic disease. But since that 1992 mandate,

> attorneys have referred to more than 200 symptoms of illness as

> consequences of the mammary implantation of silicone-gel devices.

>

> The cost of this folly is incalculable -- and not yet estimable, for its

> aftereffects are ongoing. Billions of dollars have changed hands, a great

> portion of it to fight or prevent lawsuits. The FDA has unjustifiably

> frightened hundreds of thousands of patients. And much of the development

> of silicone products -- which historically have been American commercial

> innovations -- has moved to Europe.

>

> No one, of course, should marvel at misgovernment's occasionally stemming

> from folly. It is more difficult to understand that there are individuals

> with proper training who are willing to do the equivalent of standing up

in

> a crowded theater and shouting, baselessly, " Cancer epidemic! "

>

>

>

> American Council on Science and Health

> Date Published: Jan 12 2001 15:04:02

> Date Reviewed: Jan 12 2001 15:25:22

>

>

> Founded in 1978, and directed and advised by the world's leading

> scientists, physicians, and policy advisors -- ACSH is is a nonprofit,

> consumer education organization dedicated to providing the public with

> mainstream scientific information on issues related to food, nutrition,

> chemicals, pharmaceuticals, lifestyle, the environment and health.

>

>

>

>

>

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

>

> This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional

> medical advice. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a

> health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified healthcare

> provider. Please consult your healthcare provider with any questions or

> concerns you may have regarding your condition.

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