An ACSH.org reader wrote to us, asking if we would investigate a controversy surrounding Apeel, a protective coating that's applied to some fruits and vegetables. Cucumbers and apples help us sort through the issues and determine whether consumers should be concerned.
Chemophobia
It is impossible to estimate how much time, money, and effort has been wasted trying to find a real health issue with bisphenol A (BPA). Yet, JAMA published a study that is so obviously amateurish that it makes you wonder if the reviewers were comatose. Of course, "BPA increases deaths" made for great headlines, even though it does nothing of the sort.
Decades ago, I became a fan of the ACSH long before becoming an occasional contributor. I was motivated by one clear point of reasoning. I found it next to impossible to locate a reliable source of health-related issues I had an interest in, as well as being able to recommend that source to students enrolled in my college course for continuing education purposes.
We hope you enjoy this – probably your last – Thanksgiving. Because, as you will see, you'll be scarfing down carcinogens with every bite. Don't believe me? Ask the Environmental Working Group. They'll be only too happy to tell you how these trace chemicals will kill you. For the rest of the ACSH staff, so long. It's been nice knowing all of you.
A seemingly simple, seemingly non-controversial story from a local news outlet in New York talks about efforts to ban glyphosate (aka Roundup) from the city's parks and public places. But if you dig a little, the facts change. Plenty.
"If you dust off a turd, it's still a turd." Even by my (admittedly) low standards, this is rather crude. But, what does it mean? I take aim at Genexa, a company that advertises "real medicine, made clean." A clever marketing scheme, but I don't know what it even means.
The anti-chemical Environmental Defense Fund claims that there are 10,000 chemicals in food that should be tested and regulated. It's a silly idea. Here's why.
The anti-chemical Silent Spring Institute has commissioned a ridiculous study, one that reaches a conclusion akin to pointing out that a circle is round. It's a bunch of nonsense. Here's why.
Q: Where do you go to find overpaid, under-sane professors, talking about chemistry when they know nothing about it?
A: MIT, the home of Dr. Stephanie Seneff, who has spent a career making up nonsense about glyphosate. And she's outdone herself this time: Glyphosate causes COVID. Nope, not kidding.
Scammers like to scare the elderly using coronavirus and Social Security fraud. Now, the AARP likes to scare old people over the food they eat.
At our 40th-anniversary celebration event in late 2018, Dr. Dourson was introduced to those in attendance at the Washington, DC gala as the nation's toxicologist. Although this welcoming gesture was made somewhat in jest, a quick review of his credentials lends it credence. Let's take a look.
A new study reveals that nearly 40% of Europeans want to "live in a world where chemical substances don't exist." Another 82% didn't know that table salt is table salt, whether it is extracted from the ocean or made synthetically.