ACSH's publications focus on industry advocacy related to food, nutrition, health, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, biology, biotechnology, infectious disease, and the environment.
Over the years, their articles have included such topics as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), obesity, chemophobia, phthalates, DDT, fracking,[2] e-cigarettes, GMOs, atrazine, and bisphenol A.
A 2009 editorial by board member Henry I. Miller in Investor's Business Daily criticized the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s employment of the precautionary principle to regulate chemicals such as bisphenol-A, phthalates, flame retardants, the herbicide atrazine and fluorinated chemicals used to make Teflon, all of which he described as "important" and "demonstrably safe.
[8] Michael Kamrin, who was on ACSH's Board of Scientific and Policy Advisors, published a critical review in 2009 in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, saying that phthalates were "safe.
[11] The group opposed New York State's move to require food chains to post calorie information on their products.
"[15] ACSH criticized Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz's Breast Cancer Education and Awareness Requires Learning Young Act as focusing on detection methods that were "not scientifically supported but distracting from more effective measures.
[17] In 2008, ACSH applauded the American Academy of Pediatrics for demanding for an episode of Eli Stone to carry a disclaimer since the show depicted a jury awarding damages based on the claim that a vaccine caused autism.
"[21] In 2008, then associate director Jeff Stier addressed the negative long-term effects of smoking by using the example of Barack Obama during his 2008 campaign.
[22] It opposed a New York State law that outlawed certain types of smokeless tobacco because, it argued, that would make it "harder for adult smokers to quit cigarettes.
[28] Whelan told John Tierney of The New York Times in 2007 that "ACSH has a diverse funding base - we receive donations from private foundations and individuals and unrestricted (usually very small) grants from corporations.
The fastest-growing segment of our funding base is individual consumers who are sick and tired of the almost daily baseless scares - and they write us checks to help support our work.
[30] In 2013, leaked internal financial documents revealed that 58% of the ACSH's donations in the period from July 1, 2012, to December 20, 2012, came from corporations and large private foundations, many of which themselves had ties to industries.
Donors included Chevron, Coca-Cola, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Bayer Cropscience, Procter & Gamble, Syngenta, 3M, McDonald's and Altria.
[1] In response to such accusations, ACSH claims that "evidence-based science and medicine, sensible health advice, technological progress, and consumer freedom need protection from the nonstop assault of unscientific activist groups".