Cigarettes: What the Warning Label Doesn't Tell You

In March 2011, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an environmental activist group, released a questionable report alleging that chemical exposures throughout the country have led to numerous “disease clusters.” The group called for far-reaching reforms that would place huge financial burdens on chemical manufacturers and American taxpayers. Accelerated job loss and restrictions or bans on safe and useful products would be the consequences of the misguided concern generated by this (and similar) scientifically flawed warnings. In response, the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), basing our analysis on well established principles of scientific investigation, critically evaluated the NRDC’s purported disease clusters and assessed the depth of the evidence-based support for these claims. Th is publication is a case-by-case investigation of each of the NRDC’s claims. We explain why, with few exceptions, their allegations have no scientific basis and fly in the face of the conclusions reached by objective governmental public health agencies.