The Environmental Working Group: Peddlers of Fear

March 8, 2004

Peddlers of FearJunk Science Specialists Foment Public Health ScaresBy Bonner R. Cohen

http://www.capitalresearch.org/news/news.asp?ID=176

On July 30, 2003, readers of the Washington Post were confronted with a dire warning of a threat to their health emanating from a most unlikely source. Prominently displayed in the paper’s A section was the headline: “Report Suggests High PCB Levels in Farmed Salmon.”

The Post’s environmental reporter began his article on the report in an ominous tone. “A sharp rise in consumption of farmed salmon may be posing a health threat to millions of Americans,” he wrote, “because of high levels of PCBs that have been found in limited supplies of the popular fish, according to a study released yesterday.”

The Post reported the study’s findings that 7 of 10 farmed salmon recently purchased in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Calif., and Portland, Ore. “contained concentrations of PCBs that were 16 times higher than those found in wild salmon fished from the ocean and roughly four times higher than those in beef and other seafood.”

In addition to the Washington Post, the study was reported in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Reuters, and in scores of other media outlets — print and broadcast — throughout the country. Having found a receptive audience in the media, the organization that released the salmon study, the Environmental Working Group (EWG), could be justly proud of the coverage its findings had received.

What is the EWG? In reporting the salmon study, the New York Times described the group as “a non-profit environmental research and advocacy organization financed by private donations.” For Reuters, EWG was a “a nonprofit organization that investigates environmental issues.” The Wall Street Journal described the group as a “nonprofit research organization,” and the Washington Post merely stated that EWG was “an advocacy organization.” Such modest descriptions of the organization do a great disservice both to the reading public and to Environmental

Working Group.

On its Web site, EWG describes itself as a “not-for-profit environmental research organization that uses the power of information to improve public health and protect the environment by reducing pollution in air, water and food.” The goal of EWG’s research, the Web site explains, “is to turn raw data into usable information.” The question is: usable for whom?

Shortly after EWG’s salmon study was released, the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) contacted the National Cancer Institute and posed a simple but highly relevant question: “Do you know of any evidence that human exposure to trace elements of PCBs in fish contributes to the toll of human cancer?” the group asked. According to ACSH’s president, Dr. Elizabeth M. Whelan, writing in the August 15, 2003 issue of the Washington Times, the National Cancer Institute’s answer was a resounding “no.” Dr. Whelan went on to point out that conspicuously absent from EWG’s Web site is any reference to scientific

credentials or any other information about those who undertook the salmon study.

“This omission,” she pointed out, “is consistent with the fact that the EWG president once conceded to the Weekly Standard that the Environmental Working Group does not have a single doctor or scientist on staff.”

Indeed, as John Connelly, president of the National Fisheries Association, pointed out in a letter to the Wall Street Journal, the only thing the EWG report indicated was that the small sample of farmed salmon “contained about one one-hundredth of the PCB limit established by FDA [Food and Drug Administration].” Connelly noted further that both wild and farmed salmon contain trace elements of PCBs. “All salmon remain an excellent source of omega-3s,” he

stressed, “which help reduce heart attacks, prevent dementia and — as a source of high quality, lean protein — may help control weight.”

Read the rest of the report here.

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