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 affirmed as safe: Supreme Court rejects lawsuit claiming Roundup herbicide causes cancer, upholding EPA determination
The Supreme Court on Thursday sided with Monsanto in a high-stakes dispute over cancer warnings on pesticide labels. In an ...
Viewpoint: RFK, Jr. ignores oversight of vast HHS programs to focus on his pet obsessions—and gets much of the science wrong
Mr. Kennedy has shown little interest in managing the details of work in his department, according to multiple colleagues. Instead, ...
Viewpoint: As the International Association for Research on Cancer loses influence, activists and trial lawyers scramble to protect a lucrative playbook
This past week, US Department of State, together (nominally) with the Department of Health and Human Services, effectively discredited any ...
Daubert for Dummies—Scientific Reliability in U.S. Courts: Daubert, Rule 702, and Made-for-Litigation Evidence
A New York federal appeals court is poised to decide one of the more consequential courtroom battles over scientific evidence ...
Viewpoint: Why you should ignore organic food advocates’ advice to avoid ‘pesticide soaked’ conventional fruits and vegetables
The most commonly stated reason people buy organic food is avoidance of pesticide residues. Indeed, organic producers cannot use conventional ...
Viewpoint: Greenpeace and poison: How environmental advocacy groups rely on compliant (and often ignorant) journalists to spread disinformation and spark litigation
Here we go again. Greenpeace released a report recently entitled Our Poisoned Land claiming 102 individual pesticides have been used across seven ...
Viewpoint: When food myths go viral, farmers pay the price
The media capitalises on “emotional content” and, when “clicks” are profit, the more outrageous the title, the bigger the margin ...
Viewpoint: Why the EPA mismeasures cancer risk of chemicals and what should be done to fix it
Every administration says it prioritizes getting the science right, and our current Administration has emphasized using “gold-standard science” as the ...
Facts & Fallacies Podcast: Nicotine vaping—public health miracle, or risk to children? Professor Cliff Douglas
E-cigarettes burst onto the scene nearly 20 years, disrupting the cigarette industry and leaving anti-smoking advocates uncertain about how to ...
Viewpoint: ‘Monsanto’ blues—Planned Netflix movie promises yet another round of anti-glyphosate disinformation
By now, many people have heard about a new propaganda movie … er, “drama film” … coming out about Monsanto, ...
‘Realistic and durable’: EPA proposes loosening restrictions on some PFAS ‘forever chemicals.’
The Trump administration ... moved to partially roll back drinking water protections from toxic “forever chemicals.” The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ...
Viewpoint: Indian PM wants farmers to switch to 50% organic. It would take at least 10 years, likely won’t work, and isn’t more sustainable
... Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided it was time to ask Indians to brace themselves for price shocks and other ...
Viewpoint: Why the retracted Monsanto glyphosate study doesn’t change the science—the world’s most popular herbicide is safe
In 2000, three researchers published a peer-reviewed paper concluding that, “under present and expected conditions of use,” Roundup, a formulation of ...
Viewpoint: How to counter science disinformation? Science journalist offers 12 practical tips
Science communications is not an easy task. You have to be comprehensive and concise, simplifying the message while not dumbing ...
GLP podcast: Big Pharma, Big Ag, Big Food—health harming industries or life-saving innovators?
Fossil fuels, pesticides and food processing have dramatically improved living standards around the globe. This may be a controversial claim, ...
Science Disinformation Gap: The transatlantic battle over social media and censorship
Every day, the same post appears in two places at once. A Facebook user in Munich sees it with a ...
‘Conflict entrepreneurs’ are driving disinformation and shaping public opinion
As brands battle for people’s attention, they no longer control their brand messages nor the ecosystem they exist in. Their ...
GLP podcast: ‘Safe injection sites’: enabling drug addiction or saving lives?
With illicit opioids still killing thousands of Americans each year, some public health advocates are pushing a radical solution to ...
Viewpoint — Food-fear world: The latest activist scientists campaign: Cancer-causing additives
Here we go again. The rather tiresome Activist Playbook is being applied again, this time not to pesticides, plastics, fossil ...
Paraben panic: How a flawed study, media hype, and chemophobia convinced the public of the danger of one of the safest classes of preservatives
Public opinion driven by fear has immense influence in our society, especially when it comes to science and health topics ...
‘Alarming’: Nicotine’s wellness rebranding
Nicotine - the highly addictive substance found in tobacco and vaping products - is being promoted online as a way ...
The myths of “process”: What science says about the “dangers’ of synthetic products and ultra-processed foods
Two words used to scare people are impossible to avoid: synthetic and its younger cousin, ultra-processed. They’re everywhere—on supermarket shelves, ...
GLP podcast: What’s wrong with ‘doomsday’ environmentalism? It’s false.
Ever notice how the environmental movement’s doomsday predictions arrive like clockwork, each one as urgent as the last? Mass starvation, ...
Running ‘wild’: Last year, RFK, Jr. was given a green light to ‘reform’ chemical policies. Glyphosate illustrates how Trump now has him on a tight leash, and MAHA is furious
Kennedy and Trump ... forged a unique coalition during the 2024 presidential campaign. As the face of the "Make America ...
Viewpoint: The herbicide glyphosate isn’t perfect. Banning it would be far worse.
For decades, farmers have relied on glyphosate — the active ingredient in Roundup and the most widely used herbicide in ...
EPA concludes glyphosate is not carcinogenic. Missouri courts say Monsanto failed to warn it might be. SCOTUS weighs in.
Plaintiffs have filed tens of thousands of lawsuits in state courts alleging that Monsanto’s Roundup weed-killer gave them cancer. The ...
Wellness influencer nonsense: No, nicotine does not boost cognition and productivity, but it can damage your health
If you spend any time on social media, you may have noticed a curious trend: wellness influencers singing the praises ...
