Geoffrey Kabat
Coffee reduces risk of heart failure? What are we to make of a new study based on artificial intelligence (AI)
When I was starting out in epidemiology in the early 1980’s I attended a lecture by Thomas Pearson, a cardiologist, ...
Misleading glyphosate-cancer study Part 2: ‘Symptom of a widespread problem’—Concerns about ideological activism in science research and communications
For the better part of five years, a coalition of environmental groups and tort lawyers (aided by the mainstream press) ...
The glyphosate debacle: How a misleading study about the alleged risks of the weedkiller Roundup and gullible reporters helped fuel a cancer scare
As biotech giant Bayer prepares to spend $10 billion settling thousands of lawsuits alleging its weedkiller Roundup (and its active ...
Podcast: Glyphosate boosts cancer risk 41%? How a questionable claim from a flawed study went viral
As a rule, scientific research is relegated to obscure technical journals and goes unnoticed by most people. Every few months, ...
In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Daniel Defoe’s account of London’s 1665 bubonic plague offers a shock of recognition
Pandemics have punctuated recorded history going back to ancient Greece and Egypt. However, the novel coronavirus pandemic is unfolding in ...
Podcast: The misused meta-analysis—How statistical trickery yields impressive but bogus study results
A meta-analysis allows researchers to compile data from many smaller studies and, hopefully, find more conclusive answers to critical public ...
Viewpoint: Coronavirus journal—Anatomy of a pandemic
The first case of what we now know to be COVID-19 was diagnosed on November 17, 2019 in Hubei province ...
Viewpoint: We’ll learn a lot from the coronavirus outbreak, but it will be ‘paid for in blood’
The coronavirus outbreak, now a pandemic spreading at an exponential rate throughout the world, is upending our routines, certainties and ...
Remember the questionable study claiming glyphosate boosts cancer risk 41%? Lead author reasserts her claim, EPA refutes it, and we take a second look
Sheppard and her co-authors are intent on favoring data that appears to support the existence of a risk from glyphosate ...
Viewpoint: How the glyphosate-cancer controversy became a moral crusade—and a threat to scientific progress
Sometimes the clear weight of evidence coupled with a dose of common sense is enough to show what’s right ...
Podcast: Epidemiologist Geoffrey Kabat explains how junk science gets published—and how to spot it in the headlines
Bad research can put people's lives at risk, so addressing problems with peer review is essential ...
Podcast: Glyphosate, cancer and ‘corporate conspiracies’–“Regulatory capture” by anti-science activists in the Roundup controversy
Our useful threat-detection instinct has been warped into a serious handicap as we attempt to evaluate risks to our health ...
Podcast: Glyphosate, cancer and clickbait, Part 2: Epidemiologist Geoffrey Kabat analyzes ‘flawed’ Roundup-cancer verdicts
Does Bayer's weed killer Roundup (glyphosate) cause cancer? Three California juries have said yes, while a global consensus of experts ...
Podcast: Glyphosate, cancer and clickbait: Epidemiologist Geoffrey Kabat on how to spot junk science in the news
A Google search for "glyphosate" returns 10,300,000 results—conflicting news stories, opinion articles and videos of varying accuracy. Some of these ...
Viewpoint: Defending IARC’s designation of glyphosate as carcinogenic undermines evidence-based science
The apologetics of the decision's defenders are becoming all too predictable ...
Talking Biotech: Epidemiologist Geoffrey Kabat debunks flawed glyphosate-cancer meta-analysis. Were the mistakes deliberate?
A skeptical look at the latest glyphosate-cancer study reveals critical errors ...
41% glyphosate-cancer increase claim under fire: Did authors of new meta-study deliberately manipulate data or just botch their analysis?
Among other lapses, The Zhang paper does not mention the serious science and ethical questions raised pertaining to IARC’s assessment ...
Blasting rodents with cell phone radiation increased cancer risk. Here’s why that means nothing for humans
Last week the National Toxicology Program (NTP) issued an update on the results of the largest animal experiment to assess ...
There are literally no more studies we can do to show glyphosate is safe, expert says
Several days ago I wrote a column about the wrong-headed claim that glyphosate is a carcinogen and the huge number of tort ...
Viewpoint: How anti-GMO activist-journalist Carey Gillam primes the glyphosate litigation pump
The Guardian published an article by Sam Levin and Carey Gillam [on October 7] about the “new era of cancer lawsuits ...
Viewpoint: IARC’s defenders ignore cancer agency’s flawed research, conflicts of interest
I woke up .... to find an article by Neil Pearce, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, ...
Can new IARC director bridge gap between controversial cancer agency and rest of scientific community?
A look at IARC’s recent record suggests that skepticism is in order ...
Viewpoint: Devastating flu season reminds us about the danger of vaccine skepticism
The 2017-2018 flu season is being called the worst since 2009 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and ...
Viewpoint: From coffee to BPA to glyphosate, California activists misrepresent cancer risks
Coffee is only the latest example of a trend that has become all too common. Activists who profess concern for ...
Glyphosate-gate: Policy and science implications of IARC’s ‘predetermined’ cancer finding
Where high-stakes issues involve powerful beliefs, financial reward and opportunities for advancement, neither individuals nor agencies can be assumed to ...
Male fertility likely declining, but we haven’t figured out why
Studies tell us that difficult-to-measure male fertility has dipped in recent decades. But with many unknowns, we need to resist ...
Getting to the bottom of reports of declining male fertility
Studies suggest that western men are experiencing declining sperm counts. But more extensive research is needed to determine if it's ...
Are sperm counts declining? What’s the role of ‘endocrine disruptors’?
The science community is divided over whether reports of declining sperm counts in men is actually occurring. One explanation--exposure to ...
