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The authors had a clear strategy in mind: (1) Do a study on a common household object; (2) Produce boring data that doesn't surprise any microbiologist; (3) Write a provocative, fear-mongering headline; (4) Market it to a gullible, clickbait-hungry press, exhibiting no critical thinking; and (5) Watch the grant dollars roll in.

Dr. Norm Borlaug, a member of our Founder's Circle, was a big believer in advancing an evidence-based, pro-science approach to food production. The Nobel Laureate also saw the need for debunking the fear-inducing myths that a generation of environmental groups began creating in the 1960s. 

Any donor may request our latest publication free of charge, and everyone at the event got a copy. If you prefer to avoid paper, it's available as a PDF inside this article. Along with national coverage, the news was carried by regional papers from Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and Salt Lake Tribune to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Buffalo News.

A recent paper in JAMA Internal Medicine was essentially little more than a hit piece on physicians. The authors claim that doctors will write prescriptions for more expensive drugs if they attend a seminar about that drug, and get a cheap meal. But the only thing cheap here is the standards of the authors. Their paper is a travesty.

A team of scholars at Iowa State Univ. presented research validating what the scientific community has long suspected: Some anti-GMO groups are (1) either sending information to Russian propaganda sites to assist in their efforts to undermine American agricultural dominance or, (2) they're acting as "useful idiots" by promoting concern about America's food supply.

In this organic-crazed world, preservatives are essentially equated with deadly cyanide in terms of human harm. But, when you examine things a little more closely, the scare doesn't match reality. And it shouldn't. Most preservatives occur naturally in your diet, or in your body.

P.T. Barnum was mostly correct, but he underestimated both the number of suckers, and how often they are born. Proof of this exists in the form of a company that is probably going to make a ton of money by marketing water that contains an imaginary molecule, which is supposed to turn you into Superman. It won't.

We don't necessarily agree with everything on these sites, but they're generally pro-science, and we like having them around (and for more links, see: http://www.acsh.org/about/pageID.14/default.asp ):
AgBioWorld: Dedicated to bringing agricultural biotech to the developing world.
http://agbioworld.org/

Blogborygmi.com: Nick Genes and company.

[Remarks delivered by ACSH's chairman, John Moore, at ACSH's twenty-fifth anniversary celebration in New York City.]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is right about one thing: the public should hold it accountable for how its programs work. The EPA said as much last month in a press release announcing its participation in ExpectMore.gov, which "provides the public with candid, easy to understand assessments of federal programs," including approximately forty-three from EPA.
So why did this huge, wasteful federal agency stonewall a small, information-seeking consumer advocacy organization and flout the law in the process?

In this week's New England Journal of Medicine, three separate publications deal with the current status of children's vaccines and the litigation swirling around them. The main article is yet another large study debunking any connection between infants' exposure to mercury in vaccines and autism or any other neurodevelopmental condition. I wonder -- along with thousands of doctors and scientists around the world -- whether there will ever be enough evidence to silence those who continue to make these unfounded assertions?

Well, Berkeley California is once again in the forefront of another health debate, according to the NY Times. And no surprise (again), the topic is anti-science in the service of that city s prevalent left-leaning natural is good, technology is suspect philosophy. A new law mandates a warning, to wit: cellphones and cancer!

Hear about the German guy who got arrested for getting selling forged vaccine cards to anti-vaxxers? That should be funny enough, right? Nope. ACSH goes the extra kilometer, as usual.

Another study has found that lotteries didn't boost COVID vaccine uptake last year. Here's a few reasons why these giveaways probably didn't work.

If you think Prevagen is gonna help your memory, forget it. The stuff is useless. But that doesn't stop sleazy Quincy Bioscience from incessantly advertising it (often between other disgusting ads for legitimate prescription drugs). So if you're thinking about incinerating 75 bucks for a bottle of this junk, here’s some sound advice to remember: don't.

On tap this time 'round: Is Science magazine political? ... Do you suffer from Lesesucht? ... If life is a gift, are we sharing it? ... and shaming in the time of COVID-19 distributing vaccines, the 18th Century perspective.

I pitched a column to the journal Science titled, "How I Became a Junk Science Debunker." It was initially accepted and went through two months (and nine rounds) of editing. At the last moment, however, the column was spiked by senior editor Tim Appenzeller (pictured). Why? Because I'm a corporate shill, of course.

Rarely does a week go by without some rather strange stories emerging about science and medicine. This past week was no exception.

According to idiotic homeopathy, the more dilute a solution the more powerful it gets. So naturally, it follows that making solutions even *more* dilute -- let's call it "super-homeopathy" -- will make them even stronger. This provides a simple solution for the opioid crisis. But let's be careful. There could be unforeseen consequences (especially from guys with oversized prostate glands).

Many believe that “genetically modified organism” is a term that has some significance for interpreting the safety of food. Most life scientists – geneticists, biologists, ecologists and agronomists – are pretty certain that the opposite is true. Here's why.

Anti-science activists continue to scramble to shore up their clients, who have become increasingly unnerved that we're pushing them back to the fringes where they belong. And then legitimate media linked to us as well.

1. Washington Times used our work debunking claims about phthalates in macaroni and cheese to show how New York Senator Chuck Schumer is going to chase any environmental fad - especially if it makes science and technology look bad. It appeals to his base. The "analysis" was hand-picked by a group co-founded by a guy who thinks food is "spiritual". 

Sometimes health advice is just too good to be true, like these beauties: "Eat pomegranates to prevent cancer" ... and "Organic food will make your kids smarter." But as for "Use sunscreen to treat an autoimmune disease" ... what? That's not possible, right? Well, the truth is that last one, as crazy as it sounds, just might be real. 

Do you think too much pizza will make you fat, or the chemicals in the box? If you think it's the box, you probably read AlterNet instead of us. And we had more outreach last week

In the spirit of Breast Cancer awareness month and promoting women’s health, we are excited to have had Dr. Susan Wolf in our Manhattan office today for our Making the Rounds Facebook Live video streaming series.  Dr. Wolf is a Reproductive Endocrinologist specializing in infertility and menopause.  Additionally, she is a breast cancer and melanoma survivor - and, “borderline ovarian” which she personally addressed in our discussion.  Watch the session now!