Chemical Controversies
Pesticides are substances that prevent, destroy, repel, or reduce the severity of pests. Pests are living things that occur where they are not wanted or that cause damage to humans, crops, or animals. Pests can be insects, rodents, unwanted plants, bacteria, viruses, or different types of fungus. Pesticides can vary in how toxic they are to humans and the environment. Some are persistent in the environment, animals, and birds, lasting for years; others break down soon after they are released. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants licenses, or registrations, to pesticides that it has found do not pose unreasonable risks to human health and the environment; it has registered at least 865 pesticides, which are used in thousands of pesticide products.
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‘Glyphosate is not carcinogenic’: Independent EU chemical oversight agency reaffirms—for the 3rd time in 9 years—that the herbicide is safe-as-used
The European Chemicals Agency's Risk Assessment Committee (RAC) has reaffirmed, for the third time in nine years, that glyphosate does ...
Bayer urges court to approve $7.25 billion Monsanto Roundup settlement that could limit its future liabilities
Bayer is asking a Missouri court to grant final approval to a $7.25 billion settlement covering roughly 65,000 lawsuits claiming ...
Chemophobia trap: How the ‘appeal to nature’ fallacy makes ‘clean’ and organic products seem safer—even when they’re not
Fear of “chemicals” is spreading well beyond the wellness aisle — and now it’s driving political messaging as much as ...
Viewpoint: No, regenerative agriculture—whatever that means—is no better for the planet or your health than conventional farming that uses pesticides judiciously
Americans have been subjected to a decades-long misinformation campaign about agriculture. Instead of the truth—conventional farmers grow ever-increasing amounts of ...
Viewpoint: Assessing and dissecting digital disinformation
Recent reports have highlighted AI-generated “doctors” spreading dubious health advice to millions of social media users. Fabricated wellness trends can ...
‘Glyphosate-free oats’ claim is fearmongering: Every risk agency in the world has assessed it as safe, and it isn’t even sprayed on oat plants
Slap "glyphosate-free" on a bag of oats and watch it fly off the shelf, even though the herbicide is barely ...
Viewpoint: Kennedy moves to close Big Food’s GRAS loophole—but will politically-protected Prevagen and Big Supplement slip through another?
With great fanfare, Secretary Kennedy announced the closing of the GRAS (“Generally Recognized As Safe”) loophole. But separating the rhetoric ...
What’s the political and health battle over GRAS–ingredients ‘Generally Recognized as Safe’
Behind every significant advance in US food safety lies a public health disaster that forced Congress to act. A regulatory ...
RFK Jr.’s FDA wants to close a food-safety loophole. Critics say it’s still half-open.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Health and Human Services Department unveiled a plan on August 17, 2026, to close a decades-old ...
Facts & Fallacies podcast: ‘Regenerative farming’? RFK Jr.’s federal push romanticizes the past and risks food security
An ambitious federal effort is pouring some $700 million into scaling “regenerative” agriculture, framed by Health and Human Services Secretary ...
Viewpoint: Organic food costs more—but is it healthier, safer, and more nutritious? The latest science findings may surprise you.
Few symbols on food labels evoke such an immediate sense of health as the “organic seal.” Its promise of "natural" ...
How technology transformed India from a health basket case into a breadbasket in three generations—and more than doubled its life expectancy
The average human life expectancy in India has risen to over 68 years, a substantial jump from the baseline of ...
Disinformation tracker maps declining confidence in science and public health
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, false claims about “US-run biolabs” began circulating almost immediately through Russian state ...
Facts & Fallacies podcast: ‘Zombie apocalypse’? Cities move toward drug legalization, flirt with disaster
An ambitious cohort of cities across the US and Canada has moved ever closer to legalizing drug use—with tragic results ...
The retreat of environmental extremism: Why activist NGOs are losing favor
During the American heat dome or Europe’s summer swelter and the hottest June days on record, we no longer have ...
Viewpoint: What does it mean when critics of conventional agriculture say many fruits and vegetables are “linked” to pesticide poisoning?
“Our job here at Psy Ops is to panic the enemy, to blunt his will to fight. A Psy Operator ...
Facts & Fallacies podcast: Organic food myths make a comeback on Instagram, with Dr. Kevin Folta
Long-debunked myths about organic farming and food safety are surging again on social media, fueled by selective studies and fear-driven ...
Viewpoint—The Strategic Litigation boom: Understanding the tightening coalition among NGOs, foundations, journalists, and tort lawyers
Ten years ago, when I started writing SlimeGate, many in the activist NGO world felt uncomfortable about getting into bed with ...
Facts & Fallacies podcast: Organic food cuts pesticide exposure? A response to Dr. Rhonda Patrick
Even credentialed scientists are susceptible to the pressures of social media virality, sometimes venturing well beyond their expertise to promote ...
The Indian physician’s one-woman battle against health disinformation on Wikipedia
For over a decade, Dr. Netha Hussain has been part of the last line of defense against public health disinformation ...
Viewpoint: With trust in doctors and mainstream medicine collapsing, medical professionals need a new communications strategy
Institutional trust has been in decline since the late 1950s, Stephanie Baker, PhD, professor of sociology at City St George’s, ...
US court revives 550 lawsuits claiming Tylenol causes autism and ADHD. What does this ruling mean for science and the law?
A federal appeals court today revived more than 500 lawsuits alleging that Tylenol maker Kenvue failed to warn consumers that ...
Viewpoint: SCOTUS strikes a blow against junk science in Bayer glyphosate case. Will it deter mass tort litigators?
Mass tort litigation grows like weeds. Last week, the Supreme Court created the ultimate lawsuit-killer by rejecting state court claims ...
Viewpoint: How politicized science became a political religion
Political science is a social science that studies the workings of government. Lately it seems to have picked up a ...
Viewpoint: In the science misinformed grifter game plan, the organic-food-is-healthier myth might be the worst.
Organic food marketing, vaccine denialism, cancer pseudoscience, climate denial, wellness culture, and conspiracy theories may look different, but they're all ...
Viewpoint: As MAHA blows up over Supreme Court ruling limiting glyphosate litigation, Trump offers toothless plan to reduce pesticides in food
President Trump, facing a backlash from supporters of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for allying himself with the chemical ...
Viewpoint: Glyphosate may be hazardous, but it is not dangerous as used by farmers. Critics of the Supreme Court’s Roundup ruling garble hazard with risk
... In epidemiology, causation is usually a population-level inference. Researchers ask whether an exposure reliably changes disease risk across groups of ...
