If the chemical lobby gets its way, people will be exposed to a lot more harmful chemicals and more people will get sick and die. https://prheucsf.blog/2026/01/21/the-chemical-lobby-is-trying-to-weaken-the-law-that-protects-people-from-toxic-chemicals/

Sunsets and motorcycles

Scientists were frustrated by a piece in the Guardian earlier this week that seemed to call into question the science on microplastics in the body. I wrote about why researchers are certain microplastics are in the human body -- and what we still don't know: www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

All of these can be true at the same time: - The high-profile study likely has some critical limitations. - The current analytical instruments and methods are not sensitive enough. - The Dow Chemicals scientist in the article has a substantial conflict of interest that was not acknowledged.

And then he said: "How are we going to fix the reproducibility crisis in science if we only publish novel findings?"

Bisphenols, pesticides, phthalates, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) chemicals in the global food system are linked to a host of health problems. cen.acs.org/food/food-in... #chemsky 🧪

If the Trump administration understands the dangers of poisoning the public with fentanyl, then they must also understand the dangers of poisoning people with toxic chemicals. This type of logic cuts both ways. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

You can't make America healthy if you weaken rules designed to protect people from toxic chemicals and pollution. EPA needs to stop working for polluters and start protecting health. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/climate/maha-moms-epa-lee-zeldin.html

Happy Hanukkah!

Draft legislation is circulating in Congress right now that weakens the Toxic Substances Control Act. It's what the chemical lobby has spent millions of dollars trying to achieve - and if they get what they want, more people will be exposed to more harmful chemicals and more will get sick.

webinar Thurs. Dec. 11: Corporate influence on science in a shifting political landscape www.healthandenvironment.org/che-webinars...

San Francisco is taking on ultra-processed food companies for "using deceptive marketing techniques to target children ... to consume their products while knowing that overconsumption of the foods could lead to poor health outcomes..." #ultraprocessedfood abc7news.com/post/san-fra...

Objective truths are still out there. It’s just harder than ever to know what they look like. What’s Up With That? [StarTalk video: 15min] www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4I_...

"This is what corporate capture looks like." - Dimitri Abrahamsson EPA is supposed to protect people from toxic chemicals like D4, not give them a pass.

At EPA’s D4 meeting today: - Most reviewers industry affiliated - Most EPA scientists in sync with industry - EU, UK, Canada: “D4 very persistent and very bioaccumulatative” - EPA: “maybe persistent but not bioaccumulative” This is what corporate capture looks like www.youtube.com/live/eTZ9rjV...

Never forget. What terrorism did. Never forget. Those who perished. Those who ran towards danger to help.

I'm excited to share our new scientific adventure with Benny Chefetz, Evyatar Ben Mordechay, and Moshe Shenker to study the metabolism of pharmaceuticals in plants and humans. We’re grateful to BSF for their support and excited to deepen the collaboration between UCSF and HUJI through this research.

We thank the Reviewers for their helpful suggestions

👇My interview in @newscientist.com on how corporations' control your health - and what we can do about it. Plus, I have weird blue hair in the illustration, so it is worth checking out just to see that. www.newscientist.com/article/2481...

"You can’t protect children from harmful chemicals while gutting EPA, cutting funding to NIEHS, and rolling back or eliminating environmental rules that protect people from toxic exposures." @traceywoodruff.bsky.social

Now we know that if a study is funded by the meat industry, it is 4 times more likely to conclude that red meat has positive or benign effects on cardiovascular disease risk. NIH should fund nutrition scientists so they can stop working for the food industry. ajcn.nutrition.org/article/S000...

"Eliminating the science will not make the harms go away." @traceywoodruff.bsky.social @epw.senate.gov

Excellent speech by @traceywoodruff.bsky.social If the administration is serious about making America healthy they need to fund environmental research. It is science fiction to think that you can cut 55% of EPA’s budget and expect people’s health to improve. www.youtube.com/live/3l-bOsI...

Our latest manuscript in Environmental Science & Technology is now available, where we detail the implementation of a #nontarget method to help identify novel candidate organic tracers that may help improve estimates of children's dust ingestion rates. pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

The 80-year recipe stoking America’s Prosperity: 1) Free-market capital investments in brilliant ideas… 2) enabled by Engineering Innovations… 3) based on Science Research in Universities… 4) funded by Grants from the US Government. It’s time more people understood this.

Dear Republicans, Cutting science budgets has not historically been a Republican thing. For example, Lincoln created the National Academy of Sciences. Eisenhower's term increased the science budget 366%. Gerald Ford, +15%; George H. W. Bush, +30%; George W. Bush, +54%. Just sayin’.

Cutting the budget of NASA by 50% will not only have 0 impact on the federal budget, it will also put America in the back seat, while other countries are taking the wheel. The same applies to EPA and NOAA; all three agencies founded by Republican Presidents. www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGow...

They are making it easier for polluters to pollute. More air pollution means more asthma, more cardiovascular and respiratory disease, more cancer, and worse pregnancy outcomes. www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

I agree. I believe RFK Jr and the MAHA movement genuinely want to improve public health, but it’s not going to work if on the one hand we are banning food dyes, while on the other we are allowing manufacturers to release toxic chemicals in the environment. At best, this will be a fruitless endeavor.

New Paper Alert! UC Irvine researchers used tobacco industry documents to determine whether the US Smokeless Tobacco Industry used #BigTobacco strategies to manipulate research on health risks. @ucirvine.bsky.social #ScienceIntegrity #archives onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

March 20th at Noon EST (17:00 CET) I will join a @nationalacademies.org panel on microplastics in the environment & human exposure pathways, with Bart Koelmans, @traceywoodruff.bsky.social and Jane Muncke of @fpffoundation.bsky.social. Register here: www.nationalacademies.org/event/44668_...

W/the rising prevalence of chronic diseases, it is more important than ever to support #environmentalhealth research. Learn about the vital work that we and our fellow NIEHS P30 Centers are doing to improve America's health. Download the fact sheet! #scienceforall

Reference standards are key for measuring environmental chemicals in people and the environment - Standards should be required for existing and new chemicals - otherwise, we are working blind on exposures and health effects Great piece on this ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/...

Want to "make America healthy again"? Then EPA needs to use and follow the best available science rather than give the chemical industry free rein to poison our air, food, and water. prhe.ucsf.edu/sites/g/file...

השם יקום דמם

UCSF IHPS faculty, Laura Schmidt, on @tradeoffs.org. RFK Jr. Wants to Change What Americans Eat. He's Not The First. tradeoffs.org/2025/02/06/r...

Corporations are a leading disease “vector," say scientists at #UCSF Center to End Corporate Harm. Makers of harmful products have long fought off health-protective regs to usher in an “industrial epidemic” of chronic diseases. My latest @insideclimatenews.org insideclimatenews.org/news/1902202...

Wow new #PFAS collection on how the industry waged a coverup and disinformation campaign on #PFAS chemicals and their toxicity Read the blog on the Forever Pollution - foreverpollution.eu/lobbying/ Access the documents at the UCSF library - www.industrydocuments.ucsf.edu/chemical/col...

This seems particularly apt these days - The Manufacturing of a Mass Psychosis www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdzW...

Curious to hear what people think about this new study on microplastics in human brains. The concentrations were about 4mg/g brain, which is about 5.2gr of plastic in an adult brain. For reference, a plastic bottle cap of a large energy drink is about 3-4gr. 🧐 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

IT'S OFFICIAL: Announcing the new Center to End Corporate Harm at UCSF! Read all about how science and internal industry documents will tackle corporate drivers of disease. And follow the new center @c2ech.bsky.social prheucsf.blog/2025/01/16/n...

We thank the reviewers for their helpful suggestions

SAVE THE DATE: One week from today, hear from legal and scientific experts about what's gone wrong with #EPA decision-making and what it means for the future of health and environmental justice. Register at bit.ly/sandec24 @earthjustice.bsky.social @traceywoodruff.bsky.social

A molecule of caffeine interacting with hydronium ions on the surface of an electrospray droplet - New paper - 🗞️📢 Can molecular dynamics simulations help us understand and model the mechanism of electrospray ionization? Check out our new paper to find out ⚡️⚗️ Link: doi.org/10.1039/D4RA...

After completing a cybersecurity training