The American Council on Science and Health is one of many industry-funded corporate front groups which allow industry-funded experts to pose as independent scientists to promote corporate causes.

Its funding sources include:

Food processing and beverage corporations including:

• Burger King
• Coca-Cola
• PepsiCo
• NutraSweet
• Nestle USA

Chemical, oil and pharmaceutical companies such as:

• Monsanto
• Dow USA
• Exxon
• Union Carbide

Its executive director, Elizabeth Whelan, portrayed in the mass media as an independent scientist, defends petrochemical companies, the nutritional values of fast foods, and the safety of saccharin, pesticides and growth hormones for dairy cows. She claims that the US government spends far too much on unproven health risks such as dioxin and pesticides because of the public's "unfounded fears" of chemicals.

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Additional Material

ACSH Publications

Traces of Environmental Chemicals in the Human Body: Are They a Risk to Health?, ACSH publication.

ACSH Press Releases

ACSH Offsite Links

Anon., 1994, 'Public Interest Pretenders', Consumer Reports, Vol. 59, No. 5, pp. 316-20.

Bleifuss, Joel, 'Science in the Private Interest: Hiring Flacks to Attack the Facts', PR Watch, Vol. 2, No. 1 (1995) pp. 11-2.

John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton, The Junkyard Dogs of Science, PR Watch, 5(4) 1998.

John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton, Integrity Aint Cheap, PR Watch, 5(4) 1998.

John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton, Panic Attack: ACSH Fears Nothing but Fear Itself, PR Watch, 5(4) 1998.

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