U.S. Right to Know articles

Tobacco companies remain embedded in influential U.S. business groups worldwide, giving the industry a discreet and powerful channel to weaken regulation and undermine public health, a new study finds.

A newly declassified Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory assessment from May 2020 concluded that all of the conditions necessary for an accidental release of a laboratory-modified coronavirus were present at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China before the COVID-19 pandemic erupted. 

Newly released intelligence records show that as recently as January 2025, the U.S. intelligence community planned to create an independent panel of outside experts to study how the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Women with higher blood levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — known as PFAS or "forever chemicals" — may be more likely to have multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a new study.

Forty years of studies find higher cancer risks among children exposed during pregnancy and early life to pesticides used on farms, lawns, gardens, and pets.

Growing evidence suggests chlorpyrifos may damage the brain, hormones, liver, gut microbiome, muscles, reproductive organs, and bones.

A growing body of scientific evidence raises concerns about the human health risks of neonicotinoid exposure, including neurotoxicity and reproductive toxicity.

CIA analysts concluded multiple times that COVID-19 most likely originated from a laboratory, but intelligence leaders repeatedly altered those findings in official summaries later offered to the public, a CIA whistleblower testified Wednesday before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.

E-cigarettes can quickly lodge toxic metals deep into the lungs, where they may damage tissue, according to new research that provides detailed evidence about risks of vaping.

Switching from conventional personal care products to nontoxic alternatives can rapidly and significantly reduce exposure to harmful chemicals.

The indictment Tuesday of a top adviser to former NIAID Director Anthony Fauci on charges of conspiring against the United States casts a spotlight on years of efforts to subvert public records laws and conceal key COVID-era communications from the public.

The Modern Ag Alliance, launched by Bayer in 2024, enables the company to lobby and campaign through an entity that looks like a coalition of farm organizations, not a single giant chemical corporation. 

Solitary screen time on TVs, phones or tablets may worsen behavioral and emotional challenges in young children who struggle with language skills, a new study reports.

Ultra-processed foods, now a dominant part of the American diet, may raise the risk of serious pregnancy complications, including preterm birth and blood pressure problems, according to a large U.S. study.

Sham clinical studies, slush funds, luxury gifts, and shell companies: A new review shows how pharma firms allegedly bribed their way to drug approvals and sales.

Powerful institutions are using covert tactics to shape how they are portrayed online.

Five federal transparency failings – FOIA shortcomings, weak congressional oversight, dark money in elections, inadequate lobbying disclosure and secrecy in court – harm our health.

Emails reveal Wuhan virologist Zhengli Shi asked a U.S. collaborator to hand-carry antibodies to China, bypassing formal shipping protocols.

Documents show scientists across multiple U.S.-funded projects proposed altering spike proteins and cleavage sites in bat viruses — work that echoed ideas later floated in the controversial DEFUSE proposal

The Trump administration yesterday handed Bayer another win, urging the Supreme Court in a new brief to side with the German pesticide company in a high-stakes legal case that could wipe out thousands of cancer lawsuits. Three out of nine U.S. officials who signed the brief previously worked for law firms that have represented Bayer.

A study reveals that early 2000s air pollution exposure significantly impaired older adults' memory by 2011, equating to years of cognitive aging, regardless of subsequent air quality improvements.

Our review of Bayer’s access in Washington found 16 key administration officials with ties to Bayer’s lobbying or legal network. Bayer and its lobbyists have access to people in power at the White House, U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency and even those in high level positions closest to Trump.

Here we list Bayer's 13 lobbying firms and the company’s in-house lobbyists.

A single exposure to a toxic agricultural fungicide during pregnancy can echo through 20 generations — with inherited disease risks from kidney disease to infertility not fading, but worsening over time, according to groundbreaking study reports.

Chemicals increasingly used to replace the controversial plastic additive bisphenol A (BPA) may disrupt fertility, fetal development, and reproductive health through many of the same biological mechanisms, according to a narrative review of human, animal and laboratory studies.