Elizabeth Whelan

Elizabeth M. Whelan
Born	December 4, 1943 Manhattan, New York
Died	September 11, 2014(2014-09-11) (aged 70) Manahawkin, New Jersey
Alma mater	Harvard University
Scientific career
Fields	Epidemiology Food science
Institutions	American Council on Science and Health

Elizabeth M. Whelan (/ˈhwiːlən/; December 4, 1943 – September 11, 2014) was an American epidemiologist best known for challenging government regulations of the consumer products, food, and pharmaceuticals industries that arose from what she said was faulty science. In 1978, she founded the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) to provide a formal foundation for her work. She also wrote, or co-wrote, more than 20 books and over 300 articles in scientific journals and lay publications.

Whelan's advocacy encompassed numerous high-profile cases, including the so-called Delaney Clause used by the Food and Drug Administration to eliminate use of the sweetener saccharin. She was often criticized as a shill for industry, for example with respect to pesticides, growth hormones for dairy cows, PCBs, hydraulic fracturing, and Michael Bloomberg's crusade against sugary drinks. She was critical of many public interest groups that she said frightened people away from making personal choices in cases where no danger had been proved.

Personal

Before her marriage, her name was Elizabeth Ann Murphy. Born in Manhattan in 1943, she was the daughter of Marion Barret Murphy and Joseph F. Murphy and had two brothers, Kevin and Brian Murphy. Her father was a lawyer and the Commission of Insurance of New Jersey from 1982 to 1984.

Whelan was married to Stephen T. Whelan. They had one child, Christine Moyers, and two grandchildren.

Whelan enjoyed swimming and swam laps almost every day of her life until her health prevented it. Whelan was also a member of the Lotos Club, a gentleman's club, which began admitting women in 1977, with a literary and artistic bent.

Education

She earned a bachelor's degree from Connecticut College and went on to receive a master's degree in public health from Yale University and both a master's in science and a Ph.D. from Harvard University, in 1971. After graduating Elizabeth Whelan began work studying modern marriages and family relationships. She published several papers on the subject. That work lead to her first book, Sex and sensibility: a new look at being a woman. The next year she published two more, A Baby?... Maybe: A Guide to Making the Most Fateful Decision of Your Life and Making Sense Out of Sex: A New Look at Being a Man. The latter was cowritten with her father-in-law, Stephen T. Whelan Sr., and was meant as a companion to her first book.

Advocacy

After graduating, Whelan began writing on health issues for consumer magazines. She said she became increasingly concerned by the gap between scientific knowledge and public discourse on health related topics. She began writing books as a response. Panic in the pantry: facts & fallacies about the food you buy, published in 1975 and Eat OK--feel OK!: Food facts and your health, published in 1978.

After several years of writing, Whelan, along with her likewise controversial coauthor Frederick J. Stare and said that she created the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) in 1978 as way of helping scientists reach the public. The ACSH describes itself as a consumer education consortium targeting policy issues with a large scientific component, but critics contend it has a pro-industry bias. It says that one of its goals is to use the media to bring sound science to public debates. Whelan initially invited 50 scientists to the organization. One of the first to respond and a founding director was Norman Borlaug. The ACSH reported in 2003 that it had grown to nearly 400 scientists.

Whelan continued publishing personally, as well. Some examples include The One-hundred-percent Natural, Purely Organic, Cholesterol-free, Megavitamin, Low-carbohydrate Nutrition Hoax; A smoking gun: how the tobacco industry gets away with murder; and Toxic terror, published in 1983, 1984 and 1985 respectively.

Criticism

An outspoken critic, Whelan had many critics herself. Critics of Whelan and the ACSH often characterized her and her organization as beholden to industry. The ACSH initially did not accept funding from corporations, but the media still implied that the ACSH received industry support. In a 1979 article about Whelan, published in People, the information director of the FDA is quoted as saying, "Whelan just makes blanket endorsements of food additives. Her organization is a sham, an industry front." The ACSH began accepting corporate funding in 1980. In 2003 the ACSH reported that 40% of its funds came from corporations.

In 1982, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a watchdog and consumer advocacy group/known to spar with ACSH, 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." CSPI director Michael F. Jacobson said of ACSH, '"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."

In 1980, controversial ACSH cofounder Stare was chairman of ACSH's Board of Directors and sought generous funding from US tobacco giant Philip Morris USA for ACSH's activities; he stated that he believed financially supporting ACSH would be to Phillip Morris' benefit.

One notable critic was Ralph Nader who said, "ACSH is a consumer front organization for its business backers. It has seized the language and style of the existing consumer organizations, but its real purpose, you might say, is to glove the hand that feeds it." Nader and Whelan, through their organizations, clashed on several issues over the years, including food irradiation and the fast food industry.

Bibliography

• Elizabeth M. Whelan (1974). Sex and sensibility: a new look at being a woman. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0070695237.
• Elizabeth M. Whelan (1 January 1975). A Baby? ... Maybe: A Guide to Making the Most Fateful Decision of Your Life. Bobbs-Merrill. ISBN 978-0-672-52096-9.
• Elizabeth M. Whelan; Stephen Whelan (1 June 1975). Making Sense Out of Sex: A New Look at Being a Man. McGraw-Hill Companies. ISBN 978-0-07-069527-6.
• Elizabeth M. Whelan; Fredrick John Stare; Stephen Barrett (1975). Panic in the pantry: facts & fallacies about the food you buy. Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-0-87975-732-8.
• Fredrick John Stare; Elizabeth M. Whelan (June 1978). Eat OK--feel OK!: Food facts and your health. Christopher Pub. House. ISBN 978-0-8158-0362-1.
• Elizabeth M. Whelan (1980). Preventing Cancer. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-00990-3.
• Elizabeth M. Whelan; Fredrick John Stare (January 1983). The One-hundred-percent Natural, Purely Organic, Cholesterol-free, Megavitamin, Low-carbohydrate Nutrition Hoax. Atheneum. ISBN 978-0-689-11335-2.
• Elizabeth M. Whelan (1984). A smoking gun: how the tobacco industry gets away with murder. George F. Stickley Co. ISBN 978-0-89313-039-8.
• Elizabeth M. Whelan (1985). Toxic terror. Jameson Books, Incorporated. ISBN 978-0-915463-09-1.
• Fredrick John Stare; Elizabeth M. Whelan (1989). Balanced Nutrition: Beyond the Cholesterol Scare. B. Adams. ISBN 978-1-55850-997-9.
• Elizabeth M. Whelan (15 January 1991). Boy Or Girl?. Pocket Books. ISBN 978-0-671-73901-0.
• Elizabeth M. Whelan (1994). The Complete Guide to Preventing Cancer: How You Can Reduce Your Risks. Prometheus Books, Publishers. ISBN 978-1-61592-828-6.
• Fredrick John Stare; Elizabeth M. Whelan (1998). Fad-Free Nutrition. Hunter House. ISBN 978-0-89793-236-3.

External links

• Elizabeth Whelan, Fierce Fighter Against Junk Science, Is Dead, Reason Magazine
• Elizabeth Whelan at ACSH
• Elizabeth Whelan at The Huffington Post