Politicization of Health & Science: Year in Review

Politicization of Health & Science: Year in Review

Genetic Literacy Project |
Ideology-driven misinformation is a grave and growing threat to science and society. False claims spread faster than facts; confusion has ...
Viewpoint: RFK, Jr.’s ‘useful idiots’: His 6-point plant that undermines U.S. health policy rolls along

Viewpoint: RFK, Jr.’s ‘useful idiots’: His 6-point plant that undermines U.S. health policy rolls along

David Gorski |
It seems like ancient history now, but it was really only three months ago that I first wrote a post ...
Glyphosate's climate dividend: Weedkiller reduces greenhouse pollution equal to taking 21.8 million cars off the road each year

Glyphosate’s climate dividend: Weedkiller reduces greenhouse pollution equal to taking 21.8 million cars off the road each year

Graham Brookes |
This paper estimates the annual global carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions from the manufacture, distribution and farm level use of ...
Screen Shot at PM

Europe pursues three different regulatory paths in efforts to open the gates to agricultural gene editing 

Clement Dionglay |
The landscape of agricultural innovation in Europe is undergoing its most significant transformation in decades. New Genomic Techniques (NGTs)—including highly ...
Viewpoint: RFK, Jr.’s cronies offered global vaccine expert Dr. Paul Offit $1 million to debate the safety of vaccines. He said no. Why? They’re disingenuous and nuts

Viewpoint: RFK, Jr.’s cronies offered global vaccine expert Dr. Paul Offit $1 million to debate the safety of vaccines. He said no. Why? They’re disingenuous and nuts

Paul Offit |
Several years ago, people representing RFK Jr., who at the time was head of the anti-vaccine group, Children’s Health Defense, ...
Viewpoint: RFK, Jr.'s Denmark vaccine schedule delusion—Why it would be a health disaster in the U.S.

Viewpoint: RFK, Jr.’s Denmark vaccine schedule delusion—Why it would be a health disaster in the U.S.

It’s official. CNN confirmed that the Department of Health and Human Services was planning to announce an overhaul of the ...
Viewpoint: Killing children, RFK, Jr.-CDC-Trump administration’s plan to roll back hepatitis birth dosing will skyrocket cases and lead to preventable diseases

Viewpoint: Killing children, RFK, Jr.-CDC-Trump administration’s plan to roll back hepatitis birth dosing will skyrocket cases and lead to preventable diseases

Jake Scott |
On December 14, 1999, a previously healthy infant was admitted to a Michigan hospital with diarrhea and jaundice. Within hours, ...
organic scaled

Organic food consumer snapshot: Okay benefits but only if cost premium is under 5%

Sago |
Understanding what truly drives consumers to choose organic or locally produced foods requires looking beyond assumptions and into real behavior ...
Viewpoint: U.S. and Europe lagging behind China’s embrace of crop gene editing

Viewpoint: U.S. and Europe lagging behind China’s embrace of crop gene editing

Elly Rostoum |
Ships, chips, and missiles dominate discussions about defense. But don’t forget food. Secure supplies are key to supply-chain sovereignty — ...
Viewpoint: The functional medicine scam—Its 'board certified' practitioners peddle unnecessary tests and useless supplements

Viewpoint: The functional medicine scam—Its ‘board certified’ practitioners peddle unnecessary tests and useless supplements

Katie Suleta |
"Board certified" is a common and persuasive credential, particularly in medicine, often implying a recognized level of expertise. However, this ...
Yummy goldenberries with their pineapple-mango taste could transform via gene editing into a mass grocery market star

Yummy goldenberries with their pineapple-mango taste could transform via gene editing into a mass grocery market star

Aaron Callahan |
Goldenberries taste like a cross between pineapple and mango, pack the nutritional punch of a superfood, and are increasingly popular ...
Viewpoint: In trying to link aluminum in vaccines to autism, RFK, Jr. unsurprisingly again bungles the science

Viewpoint: In trying to link aluminum in vaccines to autism, RFK, Jr. unsurprisingly again bungles the science

Andrea Love |
RFK Jr is a liar. Full stop. He has been for decades — it’s what has led to his profitable ...
Might CRISPR gene editing in medicine open up a can of 'unintended consequences' worms? RNA advances could address that threat

Might CRISPR gene editing in medicine open up a can of ‘unintended consequences’ worms? RNA advances could address that threat

Flora Hui, Guei-Sheung Liu |
The United States Food and Drug Administration has approved the first-ever clinical trial that uses CRISPR-Cas13 RNA editing. Its aim ...
Utopian fantasy or realistic tools? Deploying synthetic biology to jump crop yields sustainably

Utopian fantasy or realistic tools? Deploying synthetic biology to jump crop yields sustainably

Daniele Fulvi |
As the climate crisis accelerates, there’s a desperate need to rapidly reduce carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, both by ...
50 million tinnitus sufferers in the US take note: This device might relieve the often-devastating ring-like ‘noise’ 

50 million tinnitus sufferers in the US take note: This device might relieve the often-devastating ring-like ‘noise’ 

Chuck Dinerstein |
Tinnitus, the rockstar of auditory annoyances, is a buzzing, ringing, or tone that only you can hear. It's a party ...
Viewpoint: An inside look at the turmoil and science hypocrisy at RFK Jr.’s CDC

Viewpoint: An inside look at the turmoil and science hypocrisy at RFK Jr.’s CDC

Amy Maxmen |
John Weiser, a doctor and researcher, has treated people with HIV since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the ...
evolvingtechnology recirc f e e e a b d aea dcc d b e ad a eedd df

Most scientists reject social media while others consider it their obligation to counter junk claims. Here’s the best of the best

Katie Suleta |
Once upon a time, science communication was a niche hobby, reserved for the rare few who could translate lab jargon ...
Challenging Kennedy—MAHA skepticism disinformation: No, the vaccine schedule is not a haphazard, scientific mess

Challenging Kennedy—MAHA skepticism disinformation: No, the vaccine schedule is not a haphazard, scientific mess

Parents face an overwhelming amount of conflicting vaccine information, so it’s natural for questions to surface: Why are some vaccines given ...
Activist claims that U.S. crop yields are in decline are mostly propaganda

Activist claims that U.S. crop yields are in decline are mostly propaganda

Emma Kovak |
For years, climate activists have pointed to the threat of declining crop yields as a reason to pass the most ...
Beautiful and delicious mutants on your plate: The misunderstood world of crop improvement

Beautiful and delicious mutants on your plate: The misunderstood world of crop improvement

Henry Miller |
When most of us hear the word mutation, the images that come to mind are not positive. We think of ...
Viewpoint: Follow the science? In this era of hyper-partisanship, Republicans and Democrats follow different paths

Viewpoint: Follow the science? In this era of hyper-partisanship, Republicans and Democrats follow different paths

Chuck Dinerstein |
We’re often told to “follow the science” — a comforting phrase that suggests clarity, objectivity, and consensus. But in today’s ...
Viewpoint: Toxic politics and the culture wars—MIT’s ‘Undark’ caves to the MAHA—RFK, Jr.—predatort lobby

Viewpoint: Toxic politics and the culture wars—MIT’s ‘Undark’ caves to the MAHA—RFK, Jr.—predatort lobby

Few issues reveal the corrosion of scientific reasoning in contemporary politics more clearly than the escalating fight over the alleged ...
Viewpoint: White genocide—The potential for ideologically weaponizing AI is growing and potentially dangerous

Viewpoint: White genocide—The potential for ideologically weaponizing AI is growing and potentially dangerous

James Foulds, Phil Feldman, Shimei Pan |
The AI chatbot Grok went on an antisemitic rant on July 8, 2025, posting memes, tropes and conspiracy theories used ...
Viewpoint: TB served in a glass—The legislative rush to legitimize raw milk

Viewpoint: TB served in a glass—The legislative rush to legitimize raw milk

Barbara Pfeffer Billauer |
Once, pasteurization helped conquer “The White Plague”, saving millions of lives from TB and other diseases. Now, legislators across the ...
Viewpoint: Environmental toxin hysteria—MIT’s Undark embarrasses with hysteria-driven story aligning itself with false claims that ‘environmental toxins’ (whatever that means) are crippling our health

Viewpoint: Environmental toxin hysteria—MIT’s Undark embarrasses with hysteria-driven story aligning itself with false claims that ‘environmental toxins’ (whatever that means) are crippling our health

Geoffrey Kabat |
MIT’s Undark magazine describes itself as a publication that “will explore science … as a frequently wondrous, sometimes contentious, and occasionally troubling byproduct of ...
The world’s oldest baby: A 30-year old frozen embryo is now a child

The world’s oldest baby: A 30-year old frozen embryo is now a child

Nicky Hudson |
A baby born in the U.S. has made headlines for a surprising reason: they came from an embryo that had ...
From creating healthy menus to eliminating food waste, AI is transforming the link between food and health

From creating healthy menus to eliminating food waste, AI is transforming the link between food and health

Hayley Philip |
Across the food system, AI is being harnessed for good—helping consumers make smarter nutritional choices, waste less food, and even ...