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Do You Want Artificial or Natural Dyes in Your Food? Wrong Question.

2 May 2025

The little bugs are making news. Carmine, the “natural” red dye they produce, is set to be more widely used as the food industry rails from allegations that its “petroleum-based, artificial”...

Macropanic Over Nanoplastics?

11 Jan 2024

I keep teasing my analytical chemist colleagues that they are responsible for the anxiety that so many people have about chemicals invading their lives. Hardly a day goes by without some report of...

DMSO Is Not a Cure-All. But the FDA’s Panic Over It Birthed a Myth.

17 Nov 2023

Imagine a drug so powerful, your government didn’t want you to have it. Now, add the claim that this drug is all natural (it’s not) and that people report it cured them of any ailment you can think...

They are abbreviated as PFAS-are they destined to abbreviate our lives?

1 Mar 2023

“Not everything that can be counted, counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” That quote is commonly attributed to Einstein although there is no evidence he ever said it. Even if he...

An End to “Gilder’s Palsy”

24 Feb 2023

Physicians today are unlikely to encounter “Gilder’s palsy.” But prior to the 19th century this ailment had to be considered when a patient presented with tremors, irritability, increased...

You Don’t Need a Binder in Your Detox Kit, and You Don’t Need a Detox Kit

13 Jan 2023

“You don’t even know what a binder is when you’re doing a parasite cleanse. I came from Western medicine and I didn’t know what a binder was! We didn’t use those!” So says Kim Rogers, who proclaims...

Concerns About Cookware Chemistry

21 Jan 2022

Like most chemists, I like to cook.  After all, what is cooking but the appropriate mixing of chemicals?  In the lab we use flasks and beakers, but how do we equip our kitchen?  Tiffany's in New...

Why is COVID-19 prompting questions about Proposition 65?

19 Aug 2020

The tentacles of COVID-19 reach into every area of life. I’ve been getting a flurry of calls about vacuum cleaners, air filters, and cordless hair clippers. Sales of these items have increased...

What is "Hormesis"?

24 Jan 2020

Just about every textbook of toxicology pays homage to Paracelsus, the sixteenth century alchemist. Why? Because he introduced the idea that “only the dose makes the poison.” It makes no sense to...

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