NEWS RELEASE March 31, 2004
SALT
INSTITUTE, U.S. CHAMBER GO TO COURT
SEEKING RELEASE OF SALT STUDY DATA
ALEXANDRIA, VA, March 31, 2004 – Just as the federal Dietary Guidelines
Advisory Committee convened in Washington, D.C. for its first discussion of possible
revisions to the government’s official advice on dietary salt consumption, the Salt
Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce were walking up the courthouse steps in nearby
Alexandria, VA, filing suit in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia, seeking to
have the government release the results of a study funded by the federal National Heart
Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) about the blood pressure impacts of dietary salt.
The case charges that the NHLBI “illegally refused to make available full,
accurate, and transparent documentation” of the DASH-Sodium Trial results.
The two business organizations had petitioned under the new federal Information
Quality Act in May 2003. NHLBI denied the
petition last month.
“Health policy should be based on science, not politics,” declared Salt
Institute President Richard L. Hanneman. “Congress
decreed that the public has the right to know that the science underlying public policy
decisions meets the high standards demanded by Congress.
The DASH-Sodium results show that improving dietary quality improves blood pressure
and that salt intake is unimportant for the population at large, though it may be
important for older people suffering high blood pressure.
But that’s not what NHLBI claims from the results.”
The suit contends that the Information Quality Act requires the government only use
scientific data capable of being replicated by independent experts to support public
policy decisions. To implement the statute,
the Office of Management and Budget required agencies to issue guidelines “ensuring
and maximizing the quality, objectivity, utility and integrity” of the information it
disseminates.
According to a letter from John H. Laragh, M.D., founding President of the American
Society of Hypertension, filed with the original petition, published DASH-Sodium Trial
results lack “a complete and objective presentation of the data that would allow an
appropriate expert or entity to interpret the validity of NHLBI’s
interpretation.”
“By mischaracterizing this important study, NHLBI is making it impossible for
the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee to understand that its focus should be on
improving the quality of the American diet, not demonizing certain foods or
nutrients,” Hanneman added.
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