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Medicine Politics Popular culture Science Skepticism/critical thinking

“Transparency” should not equal a license to harass scientists

Kevin Folta was subject to an abusive FOIA request for his emails by US Right To Know, an anti-GMO group seeking to harass him for his advocacy for GMOs. Paul Thacker, a journalist, used those emails without pointing out the true nature of the source of the FOIA request, and has argued for an expansive view of FOIA that is basically a license for groups like USTRK to harass scientists.

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Popular culture Pseudoscience Science Skepticism/critical thinking

A sad day for public science advocacy

I’ve been at this blogging thing for more than a decade now. Looking back on those years, I find it incredible that I’ve lasted this long. For one thing, I still marvel that there are apparently thousands of people out there who still like to read my nearly daily musings (or, as George Carlin would […]

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Entertainment/culture Medicine Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Vani Hari, a.k.a. “The Food Babe,” doubles down on the misinformation in her response to the New York Times

To put it mildly, I’m not a big fan of Vani Hari, who has achieved Internet notoriety as a highly misguided “food activist” better known as The Food Babe. As The Food Babe, Hari has improbably become a minor celebrity by attacking food companies over various ingredients their products and, unfortunately, seems poised for more. […]

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Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Popular culture Quackery

The Food Babe: “There is just no acceptable level of any chemical to ingest, ever”

It’s been a while since I’ve taken notice of Vani Hari, a.k.a. The Food Babe, the misguided “food safety” activist who sees chemicals, chemicals, chemicals everywhere and raises fears about them all, especially the ones that she can’t pronounce. The first time I took any significant notice of her was about a year ago, when […]