The Risk-Monger blog has moved
April 13, 2016
The Risk-Monger blog has moved to www.risk-monger.com, but the archives will remain available on BlogActiv.eu. RM
Posted by Blogactiv Team
IARCgate for Dummies: Three Reasons this WHO Agency’s Glyphosate Campaign is a Scandal
April 7, 2016
How to simplify IARCgate – a complicated scandal that may change the way science-based policy will be conducted in future
Posted by David Zaruk
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Agriculture & Food, Food & Consumers, Health & Consumers, Public Affairs, Science & Policymaking, Sustainable Dev. , BfR, Christopher Portier, efsa, glyphosate, IARC, IARCgate, risk v hazard |
The Risk-Monger participated in the EU Transparency Register Consultation. He would like to see clear definitions of how academics and scientists lobby, create a Registry for journalists, have a section where organisations upload their internal ethical codes of conduct and make it clear that NGOs also have conflicts of interest which I call a conflict of influence.
Posted by David Zaruk
Certain activists are using Pesticide Action Week to create scary numbers on how pesticides and other chemicals have a greater cost to society than they are worth. Their numbers don’t add up. Is this Stupid’s last stand?
Posted by David Zaruk
The Pre-Glyphosate Generation: I was a Child Labourer
March 22, 2016
Herbicides have taken children off of the fields; the glyphosate ban will put them back. Will NGO activists send their children into the fields or will they snap back like hypocrites?
Posted by David Zaruk
IARC’s unprofessional and unethical behaviour. Time to retract their glyphosate monograph
March 21, 2016
In my second part of this glyphosate series, I look at how and why IARC published a report that the scientific community could not accept. Because of IARC’s unprofessional and unethical behaviour, I suggest that it is time to retract their glyphosate monograph.
Posted by David Zaruk
10 Reasons why Glyphosate is Good
March 18, 2016
NGOs, activist scientists, organic lobbyists and IARC have been campaigning to ban glyphosate in the EU with no scientific evidence but a lot of public fear. In the Age of Stupid, they will succeed, but until then, we need to take a moment to acknowledge how good glyphosate has been.
Posted by David Zaruk
How to Deal with Stupid – Part 6/10: The Denormalisation of Industry
February 5, 2016
Part 6 deals with Stupid’s strategy to remove industry from being a legitimate actor or stakeholder in policy debates. They have been very successful in denormalising tobacco, now fossil fuels and biotech, and soon pharmaceuticals. By denying industry to share its research, views and concerns, they have become pariahs who pay taxes.
Posted by David Zaruk
Why do people willingly believe nonsense? How is it possible for people to convince others to act without facts, evidence or rationality? Commonality is a communications process developed to deceive – patented in 1930s Germany but only now reaching its full potential with the rise of social media. It is time to forego academic taboos and discuss the dangers of commonality.
Posted by David Zaruk
‘Twas the week before Christmas
December 21, 2015
For those who hate Christmas, I hope that during this season of joy and good cheer, you would just, for once, lighten up!
Posted by David Zaruk
How to Deal with Stupid Part 4/10: The Activist Playbook: How Stupid Keeps Winning
December 18, 2015
The Activist Playbook presents a simple tool that anyone can use to win campaigns (even if your issue is stupid). There are 12 simple steps that we can find in most NGO campaigns.
Posted by David Zaruk
COP-OUT-21: Celebrating mediocrity in the Paris Agreement
December 14, 2015
The COP-21 Paris Agreement was mediocre and meaningless – why the celebration? Someone should read the report!
Posted by David Zaruk
How to Deal with Stupid Part 3/10: Eco-fundamentalism: The rise of environmental dogma
December 11, 2015
Eco-fundamentalism is a religious dogma that allows stupid to thrive via a naturalogic that puts faith over evidence.
Posted by David Zaruk
Part 2 in the ten-part series on how to deal with stupid looks at how stupid gets its wings. With the growth of social media, bad ideas, virally spread and well repeated in a form of mass-messaging, do not leave most people with enough time to reflect on whether the arguments are valid, or, well, just plain stupid.
Posted by David Zaruk
How to Deal with Stupid: Part 1/10 – Defining Stupid
November 20, 2015
Part 1 of a 10-part series, Stupid needs to be redefined. As social media outpaces governance structures, stupid proliferates, creating bad policy, public fear and a decline in the value of expertise.
Posted by David Zaruk
The Risk-Monger’s Dirty Dozen – 12 highly toxic pesticides approved for use in organic farming
November 12, 2015
Most people think that organic produce is pesticide-free. This is what the organic food lobby wants you to think, but the reality is that they are often more toxic to humans, bees and the environment. Here is the Risk-Monger’s Dirty Dozen of organic-approved pesticides – all of them being more toxic than glyphosate.
Posted by David Zaruk
Dave Goulson: Portrait of an Activist Scientist
November 3, 2015
As NGOs are funding more activist science, we need to consider whether this research is worthy to be included in policy debates, or if bias is built into the methodology. Dave Goulson is an activist scientist receiving funds from NGOs in exchange for evidence to be integrated into anti-pesticide campaigns. I find this outrageous.
Posted by David Zaruk
The media ignored IARC’s cancer risks from red meat, but not their report on glyphosate. Why is there no outrage? Perhaps because news today is decided by marketing managers measuring what we want to hear.
Posted by David Zaruk
The Pesticide Industry’s Moral Dilemma
October 1, 2015
The pesticide industry has to choose between moral integrity or defending its products from attacks by the NGO activists and organic food industry lobby and allowing conventional farmers to bring sufficient food to market. They have chosen integrity so products will be taken off of the market.
Posted by David Zaruk
Activist Creep also Matters. An Open Letter to EFSA Director Hubert Deluyker
September 23, 2015
EFSA needs to account for conflicts of interest of NGO activists involved on their corrupted draft Bee Guidance Document. At least they could give me the courtesy of answering my question.
Posted by David Zaruk
