Center for Science in the Public Interest

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) describes itself as a consumer advocacy organization with “twin missions”: (1) to conduct innovative research and advocate for health and nutrition programs and (2) to provide people with useful consumer information about their health and well-being. CSPI was founded in 1971. In both its founding and its work over the years, the center has been an extension of the consumer advocacy approach pioneered by activist Ralph Nader.

CSPI's founders were Michael F. Jacobson, who has a doctorate in microbiology and has been the organization's executive director since 1978; Albert Fritch, a chemist; and James Sullivan, a meteorologist. All had worked together briefly at Nader's Center for the Study of Responsive Law, also based in Washington, D.C., which ...