"The Trouble Lies Not In Our Sperm, Poor Nick," by Geoffrey Kabat. The New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof plays up a non-existent threat to sperm from trace exposures in the environment. Nick Kristof is an accomplished reporter who has drawn attention to neglected problems in the developing world. However, when he ventures into issues relating to environmental exposures and their putative health effects, his critical faculties seem to desert him and he repackages sensational but scientifically … [Read more...]
Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals
November 1, 2016
"‘Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals’ Are Not A Global Health Scourge" By Julie Gunlock. Yesterday, the Drudge Report featured an alarming story about endocrine-disrupting chemicals that are in nearly every product we use. Yahoo News’ story “Massive US health tab for hormone-disrupting chemicals“ was just the sort of article that sends people into a panic and will cause many to toss out perfectly harmless and affordable everyday products. In summary: a new study alleges “endocrine-disrupting … [Read more...]
Phony Claims about “Endocrine Disrupter” Costs
October 31, 2016
"Are Chemicals Really Costing Us Billions?" By Joseph Perrone, Sc.D. A report recently published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology garnered a lot of attention by claiming that endocrine-disrupting chemicals cost the U.S. $340 billion in healthcare and lost productivity. Certain chemicals are theorized to cause health problems by interfering with the endocrine system, which regulates a number of bodily functions through hormone action. Despite the media attention which may imply … [Read more...]
Safer than Soy: BPA’s Low Risk Belies Common Beliefs
July 25, 2016
"Mind The (Risk Perception) Gap On BPA," By Steve Hentges. It is commonly perceived that natural chemicals are safe while manmade substances may be harmful. These perceptions, however, if not supported by scientific evidence, can result in risk perception gaps that can cause us to worry more than warranted by the evidence. A current example of a risk perception gap is the common belief that naturally occurring chemicals known as isoflavones, which are present at significant levels in some … [Read more...]
Would You Choose a Plastic-Free Lifestyle?
July 19, 2016
"An Austrian Family Avoids All Plastics. Guess What Happens," By Josh Bloom. No- this not a spinoff of Survivor in which the goal is to stay alive without the benefit of a new phone, plastic tooth- and toilet brushes, Tupperware, and laundry baskets. It could be, except reality TV isn’t exactly reality, but the attempts of an Austrian family of five to spend six years trying to avoid contact with any plastic are very real. I’ll leave it to you to decide whether adopting such a lifestyle is … [Read more...]
Scientist Rebuke Pseudoscience on “Endocrine Disrupters”
May 23, 2016
"Well-known Scientists Ready to Stem the Onslaught of Pseudoscience in the EU," By PRNewswire. A meeting was held between Dr. Vytenis Andriukaitis, Commissioner of Health & Food Safety and well established and respected scientists (Prof. Sir Colin Berry, Prof. Alan Boobis, Prof. Wolfgang Dekant, Prof. Daniel Dietrich, Prof. Helmut Greim, Prof. Pat Heslop-Harrison and Prof. Richard Sharpe) in the fields of human risk assessment and endocrine active compounds ("endocrine disrupting chemicals" … [Read more...]
Is Green Tea an ‘Endocrine Disruptor’
December 17, 2015
"Green Tea an ‘Endocrine Disruptor’? If so, Everything Is," By Gil Ross. Fruit FlyNo matter now often we ask the “endocrine disruptor” contingent this question — Please tell us, what are the endocrines that are being disrupted, allegedly, by all those “toxic” chemicals you impugn? — we end up getting no satisfaction. Since the definition of an endocrine disruptor seems to expand or contract to suit the agenda of the “environmental” group seeking to target a chemical, and since I never … [Read more...]
Chemicals and Obesity
October 21, 2015
"Are Chemicals Making you Fat?" By Dr. Joseph Perrone. If the piles of Halloween candy for sale at supermarkets are any indication, we’ve already started our descent into the holiday eating season. It’s that magical time of year when the temptation of delicious treats combined with darker days and cooler weather makes it hard to avoid putting on the pounds. But instead of holding responsible overeating and lack of exercise, it’s tempting to search for blame elsewhere. A new scientific statement … [Read more...]
The Science of the ‘Endocrine Disrupter’ Debate
January 26, 2015
"Policy Focus: The Science of the 'Endocrine Disrupter' Debate," By Angela Logomasini. Americans are increasingly being told by the media and environmental activists that common consumer goods—from plastics to cosmetics to flame retardant-furniture—contain chemicals that endanger their health. These chemicals are referred to as “endocrine disrupters.” The activists charge that they affect our hormones, cause cancer, harm our children’s health, affect fetal development, and even make us fat. … [Read more...]
BPA in Food Packaging is Safe Safe Even for Kids & Babies
January 22, 2015
"European Food Safety Authority Confirms BPA Safety—Again," By Angela Logomasini on CEI.org. The debate over the chemical Bisphenol A (BPA) has raged for years, with environmental activists continually hyping the risks associated with it. Used to make hard-clear plastics and resins that line food containers such as soda cans or canned fruits and veggies, humans have been exposed to trace levels of the chemical for decades without evidence of any ill effects. And a recent review of the science … [Read more...]
Endocrine Disrupter Debate
January 21, 2015
“The Science of the ‘Endocrine Disrupter’ Debate” Explains the Absence of Science," By American Council on Science and Health. In the recent Independent Women’s Forum, CEI’s Angela Logomasini dissects the hype from the facts about so-called “endocrine disrupting” chemicals. She points out (as we here at ACSH have been saying for years) that the term itself has no real scientific or medical meaning, outside of its repeated (emphatic) use by those with an anti-chemical agenda and their pals in … [Read more...]
Endocrine Disruptors and Male Fertility
November 24, 2014
"Phthalates And Prostates: Endocrine Disruptors Shortening The Distance Between Male Anus And Penis," By Hank Campbell. Men are becoming more effeminate. That is not news. If you watched the ESA's Rosetta mission arrive at Comet P67 you saw a tattoo-covered fellow talk about engineering and he looked manly, but two days later he was crying during a press conference because his bowling shirt had offended women on Twitter. The signs of feminization are not just present in large, bearded men … [Read more...]
Hype about Window Caulk and PCBs
August 22, 2014
"When There Is A Penis Mystery, Just Blame Endocrine Disruptors," By By Hank Campbell. Cindy Crawford says polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) will cause her son not to reproduce. She hasn't gone full-on Jenny McCarthy or anything, but there's never been a single study to find PCBs in window caulk can be an endocrine disruptor. There haven't been PCBs linked to reproductive issues at all, except in cases where animals in labs have been subjected to surfactants and gavage dosing of the stuff - the … [Read more...]
Questionable Conclusions of DDT Study on Mice and Obesity
August 4, 2014
"DDT Linked To Obesity In Female Mice Long After Exposure," By Hank Campbell. A new epidemiology paper in PLOS ... DDT exposure may have made you fat ... The researchers found an intriguing effect; pregnant female mice fed DDT and their female offspring had a lower tolerance for cold temperature and other changes in metabolism. Just like humans, if mice aren't burning calories, they are storing them and that means they get fat. The authors not only suggest the results apply to humans anyway. … [Read more...]
Closing the Shower Curtain on Obsesity Claims
June 20, 2014
"Shower Curtains Don't Make You Fat," by Julie Gunlock. Ladies, if you’re currently flooding your bathroom each morning because you decided to toss your shower curtain due to some hysterical article you read (and sadly, believed) about shower curtains making people fat, stop what you’re doing. Save your floor grout and reattach that shower curtain. Your shower curtain is guilty of no such sin! Read more. … [Read more...]
Blaming Shower Curtains for Obesity
June 19, 2014
"Do We Really Have to Worry About Shower Curtains Causing Weight Gain?" by Geoffrey Kabat, Stats.org. Several days ago an article titled “Is Your Shower Curtain Making You Fat?” appeared in the magazine Spry and was then reprinted in the Dodge City Daily Globe. The article drew readers’ attention to the dangers of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), giving 5 examples of chemicals used in everyday consumer products (BPA, phthalates, PVC, PFC’s, and PBDFs). With a quote from a professor of … [Read more...]
Fearmongering on Chemicals and Male Fertility
May 13, 2014
"Can Chemicals Slow Sperm — Need We Worry?" By American Council on Science and Health. spermA recent study published in EMBO Reports provides the latest fuel for fear-mongering about chemicals. Dr. Christian Schiffer of the Center of Advanced European Studies and Research in Bonn, Germany and colleagues tested 96 different chemicals found in many household products, foods, and personal care products to see what effect they might have on human sperm. The impetus for this research was the theory … [Read more...]
Endocrine Disrupters in Your Backyard?
May 12, 2014
"The Newest 'Endocrine-Disruptor' Can Be Found in Your Backyard, Claims a NY Times Op-ed," by American Council on Science and Health. It’s starting to feel a little bit like summer on the East coast now, which means people are clean up their yards and gardens. And that means using “chemicals”, which according to an op-ed by physician Diane Lewismay in the NY Times, can end up in drinking water. Is that true? And if so, are these chemicals (generally pesticides and weed-killing herbicides) … [Read more...]
Questionable Claims About Pesticides and Health
March 19, 2014
"No, Pesticides Did Not Give Your Child A Tiny Penis - Or Autism," By Hank Campbell. In mainstream media, everywhere from Fox News to Time (and here on Science 2.0, though with a little more skepticism) a bizarre study is all the rage - pesticides and other environmental toxins will give your kid a malformed penis and cause autism. And state regulations...prevent it. This overturns all of epidemiology, right? Now something has to be done. Autism causes might be okay to debate in a reasoned … [Read more...]
Chemicals & Obesity
March 17, 2014
"Does BPA Make You Fat?" By Steve Hentges. As with most questions related to the common chemical bisphenol A (BPA), the answer to that question may depend on who you ask. The question is a particularly relevant one in recent years with the advent of the “environmental obesogen” hypothesis, which refers to “…chemicals that inappropriately alter lipidhomeostasis and fat storage, metabolic setpoints, energy balance, or the regulation of appetite and satiety to promote fat accumulation and … [Read more...]
Anti-Public Health: Green Agendas
March 17, 2014
"Essay Attacks “Environmentalists” for Anti-Public-Health Agendas," By American Council on Science and Health. Richard Tren has long been well-known as a fervent proponent of the more widespread use of public-health insecticides, especially DDT, to prevent the scourge of malaria in Africa. He co-founded “Africa Fighting Malaria,” and co-authored several tomes and articles on this subject. His current op-ed in Forbes.com, “Anti-Science Environmentalists Ban ‘Neonic’ Insecticides, Imperiling … [Read more...]
Myth: Chemicals Affect Sperm Counts
February 24, 2014
"Stupid story of the day— The War On Men: 10 Ways Masculinity is Under Attack," by American Council on Science and Health. Here we go again. Mixing science with politics. We all know how well that works. Yet, Paul Joseph Watson, writing on Infowars.com manages to do just this—with a side order of chemical scares tossed in, and the result is predicable—a big mess. Watson “identifies” ten ways that men are being emasculated. The first two have to do with the “seismic shift” in the balance between … [Read more...]
Cosmetics and Cancer Claims
February 5, 2014
“Safe” Chemicals Used In Makeup and Skincare Doubles Cancer Risk by Katherine Corkill. Well I had hoped to not be broaching this subject yet again. However there was an article that I took exception to this month that was written by a gal in the UK for the Epoch Times. My particular concern is through her attempted proclamations of fact there was not a single link to support her objective. I have read countless arguments, misconstrued facts, skewed data only to see yet again another article … [Read more...]
EU’s Nonsensical Precautionary Regulations
January 27, 2014
"The Junk Science Threat to Free Trade," By Julie Girling. French red lines on agriculture and America's desire to have financial regulation be treated outside the current trade negotiations dominate the headlines about the proposed trans-Atlantic free-trade zone. But the biggest threat to the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership may well be the EU's expanding embrace of "precautionary" regulation—often in contradiction to established norms of science and risk management. ... … [Read more...]
Politics Behind Proposed BPA Bans
October 3, 2013
"The EU, US Approaches to Endocrine Disruptors Have Been Appropriate Until Now," by Jeff Stier. When it comes to food safety, the European Union and the United States have some of the most effective scientific and regulatory programs in the world. So it came as a surprise when France flouted the studies and assurances of EU and US food safety regulators and sought to ban the use of Bisphenol A (BPA) in any food contact item starting in 2015. Read the full article on Euractiv. … [Read more...]
Chemophobia and BPA
March 18, 2013
"Stroking Chemophobia," by Keith Kloor In recent years, people have become increasingly concerned about unwanted substances lurking in their furniture and food. These are industrial chemicals we are exposed to every day and that have been found to accumulate in our bodies, “endangering our health in ways we have yet to understand,” CNN asserted in 2007. Read the full article at Discover Magazine. … [Read more...]
BPA, Mice, and Obesity
January 4, 2013
"Mice Study Questions BPA-Obesity Link," by Angela Logomasini Science is a long-term process that only brings meaning when numerous, scientifically robust studies produce consistent results. But when it comes to politically loaded issues — such as chemical safety — a single study with a “weak association” and a small pool of subjects can capture headlines ad nauseam, creating the impression that consumers face a looming public health crisis where none really exists. Read the full article on … [Read more...]
Top Chemical Scares of 2012
January 4, 2013
"Top Ten Chemical Scares of 2012," by Angela Logomasini This past year, there must have been thousands of green-group-inspired news stories hyping risks regarding numerous chemicals. Regulators too have engaged in efforts to demonize various products unfairly, placing them on “concern” lists and demanding that companies expend enormous amounts of money to study, test, and re-study chemicals that have been safely used for decades. Below is my top-ten list of 2012 green alarms along with links … [Read more...]
BPA & Obesity
September 24, 2012
"Blame Game Alert: Now It's the Food Wrapper!" by Julie Gunlock. Boy, it sure is hard to keep track of all these supposed causes of obesity: happy meals, school lunches, video games, television commercials, cartoons, lack of community parks, violent neighborhoods, soda, fat, salt, sugar, ice cream, milk, beef, fast food, energy drinks, sugary cereals... Now, it's chemicals. The latest screaming headline blames ... Read the full article on the IWF Blog. … [Read more...]
Questionable Claims Regarding Chemicals and Sperm Counts
August 30, 2012
"No evidence for declining sperm quality, by American Council on Science and Health." Is sperm quality and quantity on the decline? That’s the focus of a recent article which investigates the issue by citing a number of studies over the years that either support or refute the notion that male fertility is decreasing. Though some of the evidence is anecdotal — such as reports from Israeli sperm banks on increases in low quality donations — other research that analyzed eight years worth of … [Read more...]
Nick Kristof and BPA Science
August 27, 2012
"Why Nick Kristof's Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Us All," by Trevor Butterworth. Last May, Deborah Blum, a Pulitzer-winning science writer and a professor of journalism at the University of Wisconsin, published a column pleading with the New York Times’ opinion columnist Nick Kristof to stop writing about chemical risk: "if we, as journalists, are going to demand meticulous standards for the study and oversight of chemical compounds then we should try to be meticulous ourselves in making … [Read more...]
“Endocrine Disruption” Stories Continue
May 24, 2012
"Kristof's Couch," By American Council on Science and Health Fear of chemicals in flame retardants has gone viral, it seems. We initially reported on Nicholas Kristof's New York Times column that would have readers fearful of the furniture in their homes, a scare that drew upon a series this month in The Chicago Tribune. The series, which founds its scare on an alleged deal that tobacco companies made with manufacturers of flame retardants, is drawing outrage across the Internet. Read the full … [Read more...]
More on endocrine disruption nonscience
May 17, 2012
"Why I Don't Write About Pottery From the Ming Dynasty," By Josh Bloom. Nicholas Kristof is a columnist for The New York Times. As such, he has written about a wide range of topics such as politics, human rights, poverty, foreign affairs, and economics. He also appears to be nothing short of brilliant, and an all-around good guy as well. ... But ... his last column, "How Chemicals Affect Us" ... rattled off a bunch of mostly unrelated claims, that, to a non-scientist would appear very scary. … [Read more...]
Endocrine disrupting misinformation
May 4, 2012
"Endocrine Disrupters: Should We Fear Mother Nature?" by Angela Logomasini. A recent article published in the The New York Times touts a new report that claims to have finally proven that trace exposures to man-made chemicals can disrupt human endocrine systems and cause health problems. Their Report concludes: “Whether low doses of EDCs [endocrine-disrupting chemicals] influence certain human disorders is no longer conjecture, because epidemiological studies show that environmental exposures … [Read more...]
Endocrine Disrupters
April 13, 2012
You’ve probably heard the claims that chemicals are disrupting our hormones. They disrupt the development of babies in the womb, childhood development, our learning ability, and they make us fat. But none of it is true. Having largely lost the intellectual debate on cancer (although their spurious claims still adversely affect policy), anti-chemical activists have decided to add more tools to their arsenal. Among their most powerful tools is the claim that chemicals are causing widespread … [Read more...]
