Chemistry

Tomato plants emit a volatile compound named hexenyl butyrate  which can be used for closing the stomata, key in protecting plants from bacterial attacks. But Center for Science in the Public Interest and Environmental Working Group don't need to mobilize the trial lawyers, this volatile compound is all natural. That means is could be a new strategy for protecting crops from biotic and abiotic stress and improving yields, all without sound like scary science to their attorneys. It's also easy to yes because it is a volatile compound. It can be applied by spraying onto…

A California lawmaker wants to ban paper receipts - those annoying long things that immediately get lost in a grocery bag - but instead of promoting the legitimate reason to get rid of them, they are useless, he invoked chemical scaremongering. California's state legislature claims to be progressive, its newest governor does as well. Taking a stand against science is usually the way to go for people who wrap themselves in such a flag, and San Francisco Assemblyman Philip Y. Ting knows his base. San Francisco is a city that tried to ban Happy Meals and golf, its metropolitan area led the…

The year 2018 began much like every year does, full of promise and hope. And it ended like almost every year does, jaded and weakened by compromise.  Though a budget shutdown is in the news, hyperbolic claims about science being left behind are just political spin by mainstream science media; the real science and health crimes were committed by many of those same journalists. Since you clearly prefer science to hype, here are three manufactured health scares you can leave in 2018. 1. Cleaning your kitchen will make your kid fat. A paper did a statistical analysis of 757 kids whose…

Researchers have studied the effectiveness of new antimicrobial systems based on the use of essential oils extracted from plants such as thyme or cinnamon to improve the preservation of foods and found them suitable - with no smell or taste. As the developed world becomes wealthier, people are more demanding about the processes used in the foods they eat, even if it means contradictions. Some distrust the science that goes into preservation, like additives. while insisting they are concerned about rampant food waste - which is most often spoilage. Catering to these contradictions could be a…

Does the world need another sweetener? With debates raging over cane sugar, corn sugar, beet sugar, raw sugar, and numerous zero-calorie alternatives to sugar, new products would seem to be just another thing for Center for Science in the Public Interest to manufacture lawsuits about. The debate may be why Brazzein, from the fruit of the West African Pentadiplandra brazzeana plant, never got any commercial traction despite being 2,000 times sweeter than sucrose but with zero calories. It's not a sugar at all, it's a protein. For 25 years it's remained a novelty. (1) Modified bacteria may be…

In Science Left Behind I showed that in America it was easy to accurately correlate beliefs about science to political viewpoints. If you believed in psychics, witchcraft, organic food or homeopathy, statistically I could be determine how you voted. If you believed in GMOs and vaccines I also knew how you voted.  But everyone hates the word "chemical." That is why it is fertile ground for scaremongering. As soon as you use the word chemical, people are scared, and if you throw the word "toxic" in front of it, like activist academics and $2 billion per year in environmental groups do,…

Marta Venier, an environmentalist at Indiana University, recently teamed up with a Michigan activist group to "test" car seats and declared they had toxic chemicals. Obviously that is media clickbait but if you are reading here, you want to know science truth and will leave the fake news to Mother Jones. So let's get to it In 2018, we can detect anything in anything First, the chemicals were in trace amounts, and therefore harmless, (unless you are a homeopath and believe a molecule of acetylsalicylic acid  will cure your headache), and that is no reason for a scary press release.…

In 2017, action star Chuck Norris and his wife Gena sued 11 companies for $10 million over gadolinium used in her MRIs, stating she was poisoned by the contrast agent. Gadolinium is a heavy metal, it is toxic in high doses, but in patients with normal kidney function 90 percent of it will be eliminated via urine within 24 hours. That means, "detoxify" salespeople will argue, that 10 percent remains and it can be harmful and they mumble stuff about chelation, and Cutter law firm will happily file a suit they hope to settle quickly. There were a few instances of reactions in the past, in…

Mommy shaming and chemophobia have long found common cause when it comes to the cosmetics industry. Though mercenary, it is understandable why companies that make labels "certifying" something safe, and activists raising money touting our doom, prey on expectant parents; they are easy targets. Being a new parent is scary. Books are basically useless and 'better safe than sorry' is a well-worn cliché. Yet companies promoting "natural" and "organic" products are selling the idea that you need to be safer than safe, which makes no sense at all. To use a car analogy I like to use, when it comes…

On Sept. 6, 1958, the “natural” food movement and chemophobia as we know it were born. On that day, the Food Additives Amendment of 1958, which modified the U.S. Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938, came into force. Also known as the Delaney Clause, it stated if a synthetic chemical could be shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals, the chemical must be banned. It also suggested if the exact same chemical was natural, it was safe. While this was immediately attacked as a baffling and unscientific approach to carcinogenicity, many lawyers were looking forward to decades of litigation. As…