Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode

Menopause affects every woman who lives to midlife, and yet it is understudied and undertreated – a research gap that many attribute to medical bias. In today’s episode, Ken is joined by Dr. Lauren Petrick, an environmental health scientist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where she leads the Petrick Lab. She recently published a study, “Impact of Environmental Exposures on Menopaus...

From the day we’re born, our bodies contain a constant mix of chemicals. But our regulatory system only targets these substances one at a time. Current policies don’t adequately account for the health threats of mixtures, when two or more chemicals combine inside us. In today’s episode, Ken talks about chemical mixtures with Dr. Jabeen Taiba, who recently published a study called, “Exploring the J...

Do you ever feel a sense of personal responsibility for plastic pollution? That reaction is no accident - it’s the result of a decades-long public relations strategy designed to shift blame away from the industries driving the problem. In today’s episode Ken talks with award-winning environmental journalist and author Beth Gardiner. Her new book, “Plastic Inc. The Secret History and Shocking Futur...

There is an ongoing lawsuit between the American Academy of Pediatrics v. Robert F Kennedy Jr., head of HHS. The lead attorney of the lawsuit challenging the HHS vaccine policy changes is Ken’s guest today. Richard H Hughes VI is a professor at George Washington University Law School as well as a partner at Epstein Becker Green. In addition to the American Academy of Pediatrics, Hughes’ law firm a...

Two major battles over pesticide policy are unfolding at the federal level, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.  The dispute: Can states protect their citizens from pesticide harms beyond what federal law requires, or will that authority be stripped away? These are the urgent questions that a pending Supreme Court case and a fight over the farm bill could play major roles in answering. The chemical...

This Earth Day, we're not celebrating progress; we're sounding the alarm. In today’s episode, Ken sits down with Dr. Phil Landrigan and Dr. Adam Gaffney, co-authors of a landmark article in the New England Journal of Medicine that breaks down how the Trump administration’s sweeping environmental rollbacks are threatening the health of every American. Dr. Landrigan is no stranger to these fights. A...

What does it look like to stand on principle when everyone around you is playing it safe? In today’s episode, Ken sits down with Rina Shah, a political commentator, GOP strategist, geopolitical risk advisor and one of the most recognized Republican voices on national television. As a former senior Capitol Hill advisor and two-time presidential campaign chief spokesperson, Shah spent years appearin...

Long before “Make America Healthy Again,” or MAHA, existed, there was Rep.  Chellie Pingree (D-Maine): A self-described hippie, back-to-the-lander, certified organic farmer, and the first woman ever elected to Congress from Maine's first district. Since taking office in 2009, she has relentlessly fought pesticide preemption, championed SNAP benefits and school nutrition programs, and pioneered leg...

Most people heard about Project 2025 during the 2024 presidential campaign. Far fewer understood what it actually was. The Atlantic’s David Graham wrote the definitive book explaining the sweeping conservative policy blueprint. In today’s episode, David speaks with Ken on how what seemed like a Republican policy wishlist was actually a meticulously engineered, four-part plan for seizing control of...

Many people find EWG while seeking information  about pesticides. In today’s episode Ken is joined by our in-house Senior Toxicologist, Dr. Alexis Temkin whose research establishes safety guidelines to help people (including children) minimize their exposure to toxic crop chemicals. In the second half of today’s episode Ken is joined by renowned pediatrician Dr. Phillip Landrigan whose decades of...

We’ve all seen the headlines about micro and nanoplastics. It’s clear that the public is uneasy with the ubiquity of plastic particles in our food, soil, and water. The plastics and petrochemical industry claims that concerns are overblown. A growing group of scientists and researchers disagrees. Multiple interdisciplinary studies are beginning to discover the impacts micro and nanoplastics may ha...

48 million Americans are food insecure, congress just cut $200 billion from SNAP, and the upcoming farm bill could make things even worse. But Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) believes we have an opportunity to fight back. McGovern joins Ken in today’s episode to break down what's really happening with America's food assistance programs, why new work requirements are kicking struggling families off ben...

Motherhood was a wake-up call for Hilary Swank, as she learned about the toxic chemicals lurking in everyday products we trust to keep our babies safe.   In today's episode, Ken sits down with the two-time Academy Award-winning actress and film producer to discuss how becoming a mom transformed her understanding of just how toxic our world is for the most vulnerable among us.   Last year, Hillary...

Just one year into the Trump administration, the onslaught of attacks on the environment and public health is staggering. The Environmental Protection Agency is leading the deregulatory charge with policy actions that will lead to more pollution. To help understand the full scope of the damage, Ken in this episode speaks to environmental law expert Joe Goffman. He served as assistant administrator...

Julia Belluz, co-author of "Food Intelligence: The Science of How Food Both Nourishes and Harms Us," joins Ken to dismantle everything you think you know about nutrition, metabolism and weight loss. Julia is an award-winning health journalist, contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, and former senior health correspondent at Vox. She's a Knight Science Journalism Fellow from MIT and cur...

Something unprecedented just happened at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A newly reconstituted advisory committee voted to recommend delaying hepatitis B vaccination for most babies. The vote overturns a 30-year policy that led to a massive decline in infant infections. In today’s episode, Ken talks with former CDC Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Di...

Are you susceptible to cult-like thinking? According to author Jane Borden, everyone might be, especially Americans. In today’s episode, Jane talks with Ken about how the Pilgrims and Puritans essentially founded America as a "high-control doomsday group" and that those patterns never went away. In her book, "Cults Like Us: Why Doomsday Thinking Drives America," Jane identifies the warning signs:...

The longest U.S. government shutdown in history just ended and millions of Americans are about to pay for it. Health insurance premiums are set to double, SNAP food benefits were frozen for 42 million people and Democrats caved without securing protections for either. In today’s episode, Ken sits down with Liz Hamel, vice president and director of public opinion and survey research at health polic...

In today’s episode Ken and Lindsay Dahl talk about how we regulate chemicals, protect public health and decide product safety.   Lindsay has more than two decades of environmental health work in the private and public sector. She’s the author of "Cleaning House: The Fight to Rid Our Homes of Toxic Chemicals,” that discusses why environmental health has always been a bipartisan issue, despite today...

Matt Randolph, aka Mr. Global, has more than 33 years of experience in the oil and gas sector, including his work as Shell expert and as co-founder of Sentinel Energy. As Mr. Global, he’s an internet educator using TikTok and YouTube to combat political lies about energy policy. While Matt is an oil industry veteran, he actively promotes renewable energy and believes in climate change, while warni...

The Trump administration’s recent claim that acetaminophen [Tylenol] use during pregnancy may increase the risk of autism is yet another chapter in its campaign of misinformation and assault on science. At the center of modern anti-vaccine mythology is Andrew Wakefield, the disgraced former physician who lost his medical license after his infamous 1998 Lancet study fraudulently linked the MMR – me...

Has your grocery bill gone up? Ken’s guest today, Errol Schweizer, knows why. Errol has 25 years of experience in the food and grocery industry. He is the former grocery vice president of Whole Foods and has worked with Patagonia, Annie’s, General Mills, Fairway, Good Eggs and National Co+op Grocers. He is a self-professed “grocery nerd” and frequently writes for Forbes covering food retail, consu...

Women’s healthcare and medical research have major funding shortfalls. In today’s episode, Ken is joined by Lo Bosworth, TV star turned founder and CEO of Love Wellness. Lo knows all too well the journey many women need to take to self-advocate for their  health and wellness. Love Wellness’ mission is supporting women on their health and wellness journeys, investing in much-needed research for wom...

If you’ve walked down a personal care products aisle in your local store, you probably recognize Dr. Bronner’s soaps. They come in big bottles with minimal graphics but plenty of words, are affordable, and many of their products are EWG Verified®. In today’s episode, Ken is joined by Lisa Bronner, the granddaughter of Dr. Emanuel Bronner, who founded the company in 1948. Since its launch, Dr. Bron...

Does “the dose make the poison?” The chemical industry claims that a toxic exposure dose is “safe” until it’s not. But regulations can take years to catch up to scientific data about the dangers of low-level chemical exposures. In today’s episode, EWG President and co-Founder Ken Cook is joined by Dr. Bruce Lanphear, a professor of health sciences at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Ca...