Posted: Monday, November 14, 2005

PRESS RELEASE
Publication Date: November 14, 2005

New York, NY -- November 14, 2005. Scientists associated with the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) once again present an analysis of the natural foods that make up a traditional holiday dinner. Results indicate that our favorite foods are loaded with chemicals that can cause cancer in laboratory animals when administered in very high doses -- but none of these "carcinogens" are manmade or added to the foods. Instead, they occur naturally. But ACSH scientists have good news: these natural "carcinogens" pose no hazard to human health -- nor, for that matter, do manmade ones.

"The widespread presence of natural carcinogens in our food is clear evidence of why trace levels of manmade chemicals that cause cancer in lab animals should not be a concern," notes Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, president of ACSH.

Much of the concern about the health effects of chemicals stems from the indiscriminate application of the so-called Delaney Clause of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. As ACSH's Holiday Dinner Menu -- a publication listing natural carcinogens in a typical holiday meal -- explains, the Delaney clause originally banned from American foods any artificial substance, whether pesticide residue or food additive, that could be shown to cause cancer in lab animals, no matter how minuscule the amount found in the human food supply or how high the dose given to the animals.

Over the years, the Delaney Clause has triggered regulatory action against a number of chemicals, including food colors and the artificial sweeteners cyclamates and saccharin. These compounds are animal carcinogens at high doses but are not suspected of causing human cancer. (Saccharin escaped a Delaney-instigated ban by the Food and Drug Administration only through an act of Congress.)

Usually, the chemicals examined by regulators were synthetic, since it was assumed that only manmade substances would cause cancer in laboratory animals. This, in fact, is not the case. Toxicologists have confirmed that natural chemicals, too, can be animal carcinogens when administered in high doses.

"If the Delaney clause were applied to the carcinogens that occur naturally in our foods, we would have to ban much of our holiday dinner -- and the rest of the foods we eat all year," adds Dr. Whelan. It should not be assumed that man-made chemicals are any more dangerous than natural chemicals.

The Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 was a glimmer of light at the end of the regulatory tunnel. The act exempts pesticides from the "zero risk" provisions of the Delaney Clause and demands instead a new standard of "reasonable certainty of no harm." Unfortunately, the new bill leaves standing the application of the Delaney Clause's zero-risk standard to food additives, which still must pass this scientifically insupportable threshold.

ACSH's Holiday Dinner Menu highlights the chemicals -- and the carcinogens -- that Mother Nature herself has put in our food. These natural carcinogens, by and large, have been shown to cause cancer only in very high doses given over a lifetime to lab animals. These chemicals are present in such small amounts in our food that they do not endanger consumers. This fact hasn't dampened the ardor of self-styled consumer activists, who "warn" consumers about the supposed dangers of, for example, acrylamide, which is produced naturally when carbohydrate-rich foods are cooked at high temperatures. "Acrylamide, like the majority of the other rodent carcinogens listed in the menu, has never been shown to be a human carcinogen," observed ACSH nutrition director Dr. Ruth Kava.

The American Council on Science and Health strongly endorses the progress Congress has made thus far in removing pesticides from the purview of Delaney, and ACSH urges Congress to continue to apply common sense and scientific reasoning to our food-protection programs. Says Dr. Whelan: "We must continue the progress we have made in changing our food laws -- and particularly the Delaney Clause -- to bring them into line with scientific reality. Removing the Delaney Clause entirely from our food safety laws would be highly desirable and consistent with our modern-day understanding of food technology and toxicology."

Contact: Dr. Ruth Kava 212-362-7044 x234 (kava[at]acsh.org) or Dr. Elizabeth Whelan 212-362-7044 x237 (whelan[at]acsh.org)

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Posted: Monday, December 4, 2006

PRESS RELEASE
Publication Date: December 4, 2006

New York, NY -- December 4, 2006. As the New York City Health Department prepares to vote tomorrow on its proposal to reduce heart disease risk by banning the use of trans fatty acids (TFAs) in City eateries, one science group argues that it would be wiser to educate consumers about more important causes of heart disease -- and that even advising daily alcohol consumption would make more health sense than banning trans fats.

The science-promoting consumer education group the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) argues that the cardiovascular health of New Yorkers would benefit far more if the Health Department educated New Yorkers about established preventable causes of heart disease -- and steps they might take to reduce their risk.

"Trans fats account for less than 2% of the calories most New Yorkers consume daily," notes Dr. Elizabeth M. Whelan, President of ACSH. "Banning TFAs in restaurants -- especially if they are replaced with saturated fats -- will do little or nothing to reduce heart disease risk."

•By contrast, the leading preventable causes of heart disease are cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, and elevated blood cholesterol. New York City has made major strides in reducing smoking, but some 18% of City residents continue to smoke cigarettes and are at very high risk of heart disease.

•Similarly, hundreds of thousands of City residents have hypertension -- high blood pressure -- and a substantial portion of them do not know it and thus are not receiving appropriate medical attention.

•New Yorkers with elevated blood cholesterol need to be educated as to their options to reduce it -- limiting intake of dietary saturated fat and, probably more important, discussing with their physicians the option of taking cholesterol-lowering drugs (statins).

The contribution of trans fats to heart disease is insignificant compared to these three major risk factors.

Furthermore: "If the City Health Department wants to give New Yorkers information on how they can further reduce their risk of heart disease, instead of banning trans fats, it should inform consumers about the heart-healthy use of moderate alcohol," says Whelan. "The body of scientific research indicates that moderate alcohol use can prevent approximately 80,000 deaths -- primarily from heart disease -- in the United States, suggesting that if New Yorkers were educated as to the benefits of moderate alcohol consumption, over two thousand deaths could be prevented each year."

"In the past three decades, almost every epidemiological study has demonstrated that middle-aged individuals who drink small to moderate amounts of alcohol -- one or two drinks daily -- have a lower risk than non-drinkers of dying of coronary heart disease," adds ACSH Medical and Executive Director, Dr. Gilbert Ross. Epidemiological, clinical, and experimental studies indicate that alcohol consumption is associated with milder degrees of atherosclerosis and/or with lower risk of heart disease. Among middle-aged and elderly people, moderate drinkers have a lower general mortality than do abstainers. This bottom-line positive effect appears to outweigh the possible adverse effects of moderate drinking.

While TFA critics argue, correctly, that TFAs can raise "bad" cholesterol (LDL) and decrease "good" cholesterol (HDL), it is unlikely that they have a significant impact at the low levels of TFA consumption common today. By comparison, moderate alcohol consumption not only reduces LDL but raises HDL, reduces the platelet aggregation that contributes to clotting, increases coronary blood flow, and reduces blood pressure.

"All types of alcoholic beverages -- wine, beer, and distilled spirits -- are associated with decreased risk of coronary heart disease," adds ACSH Nutrition Director Dr. Ruth Kava. "The protective effect appears to be due primarily to the alcohol itself, rather than to other components of alcoholic beverages."

"New York City government getting involved in the business of preventing heart disease in ways other than through public education raises questions. But if the City does take on such a challenge, it would be critically important to choose those public health interventions that have proven efficacy," argues Whelan. These include smoking cessation, treatment of high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol levels, and moderate daily use of alcohol among older New Yorkers. "We know these measures will save lives. We have no such assurance that banning TFAs will save any lives."

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*Some people need to abstain from or minimize their consumption of alcohol: No one should drink before driving or engaging in other activities that involve attention and skill or physical risk (operating machinery, boating, skiing etc). Some should avoid or limit alcohol use for health reasons, including individuals with a personal or family history of alcohol abuse, persons who cannot keep their drinking moderate, women who are pregnant or planning to conceive, and individuals who are taking prescription or over-the-counter medications that can interact adversely with alcohol.

For more information, please contact:

Dr. Elizabeth Whelan Whelan[at]acsh.org
Dr. Ruth Kava Kava[at]acsh.org
Dr. Gilbert Ross Ross[at]acsh.org
212-362-7044

See also: ACSH's full report on Trans Fatty Acids and Heart Disease

See Jeff Stier on CNBC's Power Lunch on trans fats

UPDATE: On Dec. 5, the ban passed and ACSH issued the following press release:

SCIENTISTS PROTEST NEW YORK CITY BAN ON TRANS FATS

Contact: Dr. Elizabeth Whelan (Whelan@ACSH.org), Dr. Ruth Kava (Kava@ACSH.org), or Jeff Stier, Esq. (Stier@ACSH.org). ACSH phone: 2l2-362-7044

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW YORK, NY- DECEMBER 5, 2006. The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) today denounced the unanimous decision of the New York City Health Department to ban the use of any trans fatty acids (TFAs) in New York City restaurants. By July 2007 TFAs must be eliminated from spreads and cooking oils and all trans fats must be removed from baked goods July 2008.

Having reviewed the pertinent scientific literature on TFAs and coronary heart disease, ACSH has concluded that the contribution of TFAs to heart disease has been greatly overstated by the Health Department to the point of obscuring far more important risk factors for heart disease.

According to Dr. Gilbert L. Ross, ACSH medical director, “The heightened media attention now paid to trans fatty acids as a possible cause of heart disease distracts consumers from the three major known preventable causes of heart disease: cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, and unhealthy levels of LDL cholesterol and other blood lipids. In addition to these primary controllable risk factors, there are others, including diabetes, obesity, and genetic predisposition, that increase the risk of heart disease." Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, president of ACSH, added, "While a diet high in TFAs can raise LDL or “bad” cholesterol levels, TFAs play a relatively small role in an individual's overall risk of heart disease.”

Twenty years ago, it was believed that TFAs would be a healthier type of fat to use for many applications and many food producers substituted them for saturated fats. New research now indicates that TFAs can raise levels of LDL cholesterol just like saturated fats. ACSH nutrition director Dr. Ruth Kava points out that it is not known what many restaurants will use in place of TFAs and what the health implications of this new ingredient will be.

ACSH believes nutrition policies should be based on moderation, balance, common sense, and sound science, not hyperbole and therefore opposes the new ban.

The American Council on Science and Health is a nonprofit public health, consumer-education consortium of over 350 scientists and physicians, experts who serve on ACSH's scientific advisory panel. ACSH publishes reports on issues pertaining to the environment, nutrition, pharmaceuticals, and tobacco and helps the public deal with the real health risks productively.

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