"'Advocacy Research' Discredits Science And Aids Unprincipled Activism," By Henry I. Miller and Robert Wager. The scientific research enterprise today is in something of a quandary. Various empirical studies show that 80-90% of the claims coming from scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals fail to replicate. (To simplify that statistic, that’s equivalent to only a 10-20% success rate for recipes from a cookbook.) For the most part this is due to flaws in the design of experiments, … [Read more...]
Round-Up on IARC Cancer Classification
April 10, 2015
"Another Party Weighs in on the IARC-Glyphosate Charade," By American Council on Science and Health. Thanks to Angela Logomasini’s Safe Chemical Policy News, we learned of another academic organization’s disdain for the methods used by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an arm of the WHO, in their process of evaluating the widely-used herbicide, glyphosate, among other pesticides. Better known as Roundup by Monsanto, glyphosate has been increasingly used subsequent to the … [Read more...]
Atrazine in the News
March 4, 2015
"Atrazine Back in the News, Unfortunately, Thanks to EU’s Precaution," by American Council on Science and Health." EU Parliament, StrasbourgAtrazine, one of the most effective and commonly used herbicides (weed-killers) in the world, is back in the news. Today’s New York Times’ international business article discusses disparities in regulations that complicate Trans-Atlantic trade. Specifically referenced is the gulf that exists between American and European regulations of chemicals and … [Read more...]
Weighing the Evidence: Chemical Risks
January 26, 2015
"Weight Of Evidence: How To Make Sense Of Reports On Toxicology And Pesticides," by News Staff at Science 2.0. There are tens of thousands of human-made chemicals circulating today and some have been bad despite studies that didn't initially find harm, yet almost every chemical is under siege by environmental groups, and they all claim science is on their side. Everything from bisphenol A used in plastics to neonicotinoid pesticides to glyphosate weed-killers are criticized by lawyers at … [Read more...]
No Harm to Frogs from Atrazine
October 8, 2014
"A New Study from Federal Geologists — AND Tyrone Hayes! — Shows no Frog Harm from Atrazine," by American Council on Science and Health. Look, there has never been any solid evidence at all that the most common herbicide (weed-killer) used in America — atrazine — actually harmed amphibians. On the other hand, atrazine has been estimated to have saved billions of dollars in increased corn crop yields over the many decades it’s been widely used in the corn-growing heartland. Nevertheless, since … [Read more...]
Feeding the World with the Help of Herbicides
May 12, 2014
“'Atrazine and The Forever War on Science' Makes for Scary yet Incisive Reading," by American Council on Science and Health. In a brilliantly-written perspective piece on his Science 2.0 blog, Hank Campbell skewers a lot of folks who really need skewering. His scythe and rapier draw blood from his targets, and his insights accrue to the reader: the rampant chemophobia pervasive in America, where “chemicals” are feared when they are recognized at all; the pandering of pseudo-journalists giving a … [Read more...]
New Yorker’s Attack on Science
March 19, 2014
"Turning Science into a Circus: The New Yorker, Rachel Aviv and Tyrone Hayes," By Bruce Chassy, Ph.D. Titled “A Valuable Reputation,” it purports to tell the story of Berkeley researcher Dr. Tyrone Hayes and how, after he supposedly revealed the harmful effects of a popular herbicide on frog development, the chemical’s maker attempted to discredit him. In subsequent statements by the author and other articles, this has morphed into allegations of a full-fledged corporate conspiracy one … [Read more...]
Faulty Science Abounds
August 27, 2013
"There Are A Thousand Ways To Do An Experiment Wrong," by By Henry I. Miller and Jeff Stier. The 18th century philosopher and economist Adam Smith observed, “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.” That view is one justification for giving federal agencies so much money, control and discretion over commerce and other aspects of our lives. And when it … [Read more...]
Discredited Anti-Herbicide Researcher Loses Funding
August 26, 2013
"Berkeley Anti-Atrazine Crusader Blames 'Big Ag', Set To Sue, After University Dispute Over Dwindling Research Funds," by Jon Entine. Has ‘Big Ag’ finally nailed a long time nemesis? Or has an ideologically obsessed activist scientist with a long history of discredited studies finally fallen victim to his own bizarre behavior? Or has an ideologically obsessed activist scientist with a long history of discredited studies finally fallen victim to his own bizarre behavior? These are the … [Read more...]
Atrazine Study: No Cancer Risk
February 7, 2013
"Atrazine: Still not a Carcinogen," by American Council on Science and Health Experts have looked at the evidence condemning the weedkiller atrazine as a “carcinogen” and found it wanting. The four researchers were affiliated with the Tisch Cancer Institute, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Harvard University and the University of London. Read the full story on ACSH Dispatch. … [Read more...]
