Explore every episode of the podcast Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode

A bill to ease Californians’ access to balcony solar, also called plug-in PV, just cleared the state Legislature and is now sitting on Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk. If he signs the bill, SB 868, California could become the tenth state to legalize this simple technology: a solar panel that plugs straight into a wall outlet and be fixed to a home’s balcony, no permits or rooftop installation required.

In today's episode, Ken sits down with EWG's own Bernadette Del Chiaro, senior vice president for California. She's a longtime clean energy advocate who has spent decades fighting for consumer access to solar, from early rooftop solar policy battles to today's fight for balcony solar. 

Their conversation traces how the idea made its way from Germany to Utah and now to California, why the state’s three major investor-owned utilities fought it every step of the way, and why this could be one of the biggest wins yet for everyday consumers in the fight for affordable, distributed clean energy.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

California Assembly utilities committee advances bill cutting red tape for ‘balcony solar’

California Legislature approves bill easing access to clean, affordable ‘balcony solar’

SB-868 Electricity: portable solar generation devices

CalMatters SB 868: Electricity: portable solar generation devices

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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Tens of thousands of people got sick this summer from a foodborne illness outbreak that was preventable. In today’s episode, Ken speaks with Sarah Sorscher, director of regulatory affairs for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, about the cyclospora outbreak sweeping the U.S. 

The outbreak is a direct symptom of years of underinvestment and recent cuts to public health infrastructure by the Trump administration. From the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions’ shrinking FoodNet surveillance program to the thousands of Food and Drug Administration and Health and Human Services staff lost to layoffs and early retirements, Sarah lays out how the systems meant to catch contamination early have been dismantled. 

It’s happening under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his unfulfilled Make America Healthy Again promises on food chemicals and a food safety loophole, synthetic dyes and defining "ultra-processed food. And it begs the question: Why are the people who promised to fix the food system are the ones gutting the agencies built to protect it?  

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

CSPI's synthetic dyes commitments tracker

The Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic memo on the FRESH Act

Politico’s: USDA cyclospora research projects shelved amid funding cuts and relocations

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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"Ask where the landfill is, and you'll find where the Black people live." That's what Vernice Miller-Travis' grandmother told her. Vernice Miller-Travis helped write the report that first proved, with data, what Black communities had always known: Hazardous waste sites are not randomly distributed; they're concentrated in communities of color. 

She has spent decades building the environmental justice movement, co-founding WE ACT for Environmental Justice, leading environmental justice grantmaking at the Ford Foundation, and founding the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Environmental Justice Initiative. 

Miller-Travis, who is Ken’s guest today,  now serves as executive vice president for environmental and social justice at Metropolitan Group, working with communities and institutions on the racial and economic conflicts that persist in our environment due to regulatory inaction. 

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

https://www.metgroup.com/

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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Dr. Georges Benjamin is the CEO of the American Public Health Association, with 25 years at the helm of one of the most respected public health institutions in the U.S. And he’s Ken’s guest today.

At the beginning of 2025, Benjamin made an appearance on Ken’s livestream during Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 's Senate confirmation hearing to be health secretary. At the time, Benjamin warned what could happen with RFK Jr. as the national head of public health.

Fast forward to today, America faces its worst measles outbreak in 35 years, with over 2,300 cases and counting. Taylor Farms, already potentially linked to a deadly E. coli outbreak, is at the center of a massive Cyclospora outbreak tied to contaminated lettuce sickening thousands.

Benjamin unpacks how we got here, what RFK Jr. gets wrong, why Make America Health Again was never going to get the support it needed from Republicans and why gutting public health infrastructure has consequences.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

https://www.apha.org

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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Everyday we rely on governmental regulatory systems and animal testing to tell us if the chemicals we’re exposed to will or won’t hurt us. But what if AI could help us get more ethical and more accurate answers and avoid animal testing altogether? 

In today’s episode, Ken is joined by Dr. Thomas Hartung, Ph.D, a professor at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, whose work spans the fields of environmental health, engineering, molecular microbiology, and immunology. Hartung’s team are developing cutting edge tools in the world of toxicology: AI and human stem cell models that help us understand our genetic reactions to chemicals and, ultimately, make our lives safer. 

Hartung argues that AI has the power to analyze vast data sets of untested or undertested chemicals, “cocktail” combinations, and even different exposure rates and frequencies. All these variations can give us a much more nuanced understanding of the chemicals that permeate our lives, potentially reshaping how chemicals are assessed and regulated.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

https://publichealth.jhu.edu/faculty/2308/thomas-hartung

https://caat.publichealth.jhu.edu/

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1119989

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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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 Menopausal Symptoms,” that synthesizes evidence from studies linking everyday chemical exposures – like phthalates, phenols, heavy metals, air pollution, and pesticides – to a wide range of menopausal symptoms. These symptoms range from hot flashes and mood changes to sleep disruption and beyond.

As a midlife woman, Petrick brings a personal lens to her research, which suggests that the phthalates in your plastic containers, the fragrances in your personal care products, and the air quality in your neighborhood may all be connected to the symptoms women experience during perimenopause and menopause.

She argues that perimenopause and menopause are a critical “window of susceptibility” to environmental exposures - much like pregnancy and puberty.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Dr. Petrick’s study: Environmental Exposures on Menopausal Symptoms

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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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 Joint Association Between Agrichemical Mixtures and Pediatric Cancer.”

From the study: “We observed a statistically significant positive association between 32 agrichemicals,” which were all pesticides, “and overall pediatric cancer and subtypes, and the strength of the association was slightly stronger among brain and CNS cancers compared to overall cancer.”

Dr. Taiba is a post-doctoral research associate at the University of Nebraska’s Water, Climate, and Health program. She's trained as a multidisciplinary researcher, with a background in epidemiology, and has robust experience in clinical research, public health, and large data sets. She and Ken delve into what happens when chemicals mix and how this impacts our most vulnerable: children.

EWG has been studying mixtures since the early 2000s. But chemical companies only test one chemical at a time in its purest form. With more scientists like Dr. Taiba, we’re hopeful that can change.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

The Halifax Project

Dr. Jabeen Taiba’s study

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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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 Future of Big Oil’s Biggest Bet,” reveals why Big Oil is responsible for the global plastic pollution problem.

Beth traces the full arc of the oil and plastic industry’s political strategy as well as the origins of plastic recycling as a PR opportunity rather than an environmental solution.

Against the backdrop of weakening environmental safeguards and shifting regulatory priorities, the episode asks a pressing question: how do we hold some of the most powerful industries on the planet accountable for a crisis they helped create?

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Buy Beth Gardiner’s book

Beth Gardiner’s website

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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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 also represents the American College of Physicians and the American Public Health Association.

Richard breaks down the legal framework behind the lawsuit against Kennedy, including the effort to dismantle and remake the ACIP advisory committee, the broader implications for federal vaccine policy, and the growing erosion of public trust in pediatricians, vaccines, and public health institutions.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Find the court docket for the case American Academy of Pediatrics v. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. here 

And Judge Brian Murphy’s ruling here that opens with an adaptation of a famous quote from the late astronomer and scientist Carl Sagan:  “Science, like law, is far from a perfect instrument of knowledge…nevertheless, science is still the best we have.”

Richard Hughes, Professorial Lecturer in Law

New York Times: Kennedy, in His Own Words: Flu, Diabetes, Autism and More

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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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 at the center of all of this? Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup and the keystone product of the Bayer-Monsanto corporation. Critics of the controversial weedkiller link it to a number of health harms through exposure. 

To help unravel the legal docket, Ken is joined by Chuck Benbrook, Ph. D. He has worked on pesticide issues in roles during the Carter administration, for Congress and with the National Academy of Sciences, and has served as an expert witness in many of the cases he and Ken discuss. 

Benbrook is urging the Supreme Court to preserve the right of states to hold pesticide companies accountable when federal regulators fall short.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Why HHRA’s Amicus Brief to the Supreme Court in Opposition to Preemption?



Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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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. As a young Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doctor in the 1970s, his groundbreaking research on lead poisoning in children helped drive lead out of gasoline and paint. This victory reduced childhood lead poisoning by 95% and raised the IQ of an entire generation.

Dr. Gaffney, a pulmonary and critical care physician at Harvard Medical School, has spent his career fighting to protect his patients’ lungs – and now the very protections that keep those lungs healthy are being dismantled one regulation at a time.

Together, the doctors share with Ken all the vital rules that the administration is undoing, who will suffer most, and what it will cost the public in health harms and lives lost – from weakened air quality standards and gutted climate policy, to the quiet destruction of the scientific institutions that keep Americans safe.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

New England Journal of Medicine: The Dismantling of Environmental Protections: A Grave Threat to America’s Health

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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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 appearing on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and nearly every major network covering politics and global affairs. But long before the television appearances and the op-eds, she was the daughter of a Ugandan refugee family that lost everything under the brutal dictatorship of Idi Amin. That experience shaped everything about how she sees leadership, power and democracy.

Shah shares her family's remarkable story of survival, why she recognized the echoes of authoritarianism in President Donald Trump long before most were willing to say it out loud, and what it cost her to become the first elected Republican delegate to publicly challenge Trump’s nomination in 2016. A decade later, she's still a Republican, still speaking out, and still refusing to let the party she loves be defined by fear and silence.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Rina Shah’s Instagram

Renew Democracy Initiative

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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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 legislation on food waste and organic agriculture. She’s been fighting for healthier lives long before MAHA was a movement.

Now MAHA has arrived, promising to achieve in a news cycle what Pingree has spent decades trying to accomplish legislatively. MAHA Action's president recently sent a memo to Republican Party leadership calling the movement “a once in a generation political gift to the GOP" and pledging $100 million to elect Republicans in the midterms.

Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.  once a prominent voice against toxic pesticides, now celebrates executive orders by President Dinbaly Trump expanding glyphosate production, even as former pesticide lobbyists take key positions at the Environmental Protection Agency.

MAHA was pitched as a bipartisan effort – but reality tells a different story. In today’s episode, Ken talks with Pingree about the contradictions between what the administration says on MAHA and what it’s actually doing on policy.

And that’s the real divide: between those doing the difficult work of governing and achieving real results, and those packaging that work into snappy branding and social media posts. One is measured in years of policy fights and incremental wins. The other is measured in headlines and clicks. Yet only one of them changes the law to protect the public.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Make America Healthy Again? Let’s see if they’re serious

Chellie Pingree 1st District of Maine

In betrayal of MAHA, House GOP farm bill exposes kids to pesticides

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Make America Healthy Again? Let’s see if they’re serious

Chellie Pingree 1st District of Maine

In betrayal of MAHA, House GOP farm bill exposes kids to pesticides

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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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 the federal government.

They discuss how DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency) helped accelerate the wrecking-ball agenda, why the architects of Project 2025 always assumed Congress would capitulate to their plans, and whether the damage being done to American institutions can ever be undone. The conversation helps us understand what the 2028 presidential election could mean for the project’s next chapter.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

https://www.theatlantic.com/author/david-a-graham/

https://www.davidagraham.com/work

https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-project-how-project-2025-is-reshaping-america-david-a-graham/afe80d453ffedb79?ean=9798217153725&next=t&next=t&affiliate=2186

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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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 research and advocacy  is integral for understanding the effects of pesticides in children.

We see this episode as Pesticides 101, to help give our audience agency over how they (and their families) are exposed to pesticides. Our government isn’t doing enough to protect us from harmful chemical  residues often found in healthy foods like fruits and vegetables. Until that changes, we’re grateful for the work of Dr. Temkin and Dr. Landrigan that has helped  people, including parents and caregivers, better understand how they can take steps to reduce their exposure to pesticides while eating plenty of healthy fruits and veggies.

Want a deeper dive on today’s episode? Check out the links below:

EWG’s 2024 Dirty Dozen

EWG’s 2024 Clean 15

EWG’s Dirty Dozen Guide to Food Chemicals: The top 12 to avoid

EWG’s YouTube

Alexis Temkin, Ph.D.

EPA warns farmworkers about risks of Dacthal

60 Minutes (CBS; 2/26/1989)

National Research Council (US) Committee on Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children

Food Quality Protection Act Signing

Safe Drinking Water Act Signing

Children and Environmental Toxins: What Everyone Needs to Know®

Project 2025's "Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise (contributed by NPR)

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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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 have on cardiovascular and brain health.

Ken is joined by Matthew Campen, PhD, MSPH, the Director of the New Mexico Center for Metals in Biology and Medicine at the University of New Mexico, to discuss his findings and to help unravel what the science says.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Matthew J Campen, PhD, MSPH

Bioaccumulation of microplastics in decedent human brains

‘A bombshell’: doubt cast on discovery of microplastics throughout human body

Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Atheromas and Cardiovascular Events

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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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 benefits, and how farm subsidies enrich corporations while small farmers go bankrupt. Whose interests is Congress really serving?

While special interests are already lobbying hard for the next farm bill, McGovern believes people power is more powerful than the people in power.

If we can find billions for bailouts of Argentina and tax cuts for billionaires, but claim we're too broke to feed hungry Americans, we should probably check our math.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

EWG’s Farm Subsidy Database 

‘City slicker’ farm payments top $2B – and House GOP bill would make problem worse

The cruelest farm bill ever

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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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 joined Ken at the California State Capitol to fight for passage of SB 646, a crucial prenatal vitamin safety law. She opens up about the shocking moment she learned that prenatal vitamins aren't required to be tested for heavy metals, her partnership with Healthy Baby (the first EWG VerifiedⓇ diaper), and why she'll show up “time and time again” to protect not just her children, but all children.

From her first-ever lobbying experience to helping pass the groundbreaking SB 646 in just six months, Hilary is on a mission to make the world safer for the next generation.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

EWG Skin Deep - Healthy Baby
 

Gov. Newsom signs nation’s first law to require tests of prenatal vitamins for heavy metals
 

EWG Area's of Focus: California

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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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 for the EPA's Office of Air and Radiation during the Biden administration. Goffman also played a key role in writing the landmark 1990 Clean Air Act amendments that strengthened U.S. air quality law.

With his work on virtually every major air quality law and rule over the past 35 years, Goffman is uniquely qualified to unravel the full extent of damage that the EPA is doing to our air, water, and health.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Joseph Goffman, Executive Director of Harvard Law School's Environmental & Energy Law Program

MAAHA: EWG’s ‘Make America Actually Healthy Again’ agenda for EPA Administrator Zeldin

Trump’s EPA Could Limit Its Own Ability to Use New Science to Strengthen Air Pollution Rules

EPA’s Goffman lashed out at ethics charges

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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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 currently lives in Paris, France.

Julia explains why our struggles with food aren't personal failures. They are the predictable result of living in toxic food environments designed to make us overeat. Drawing on decades of nutrition science research conducted with co-author Kevin Hall at the National Institutes of Health, she reveals what people get wrong with food despite thinking they’re doing it right.

Julia compares France's deliberate cultivation of healthy food environments to America's chronic disease crisis. She discusses California's groundbreaking legislation defining ultra-processed foods, the promise and failures of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s "Make America Healthy Again" agenda, and why we need systemic change to how we approach food.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Food Intelligence: The Science of How Food Both Nourishes and Harms Us

EWG's food policy work 

California's ultra-processed food law

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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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 Diseases Dr. Demetre Daskalakis. Daskalakis spent decades fighting on the front lines of America's toughest public health battles. He brought HIV testing to the communities that needed it most. He stopped a meningitis outbreak in its tracks and he led the national Mpox response. He left the CDC in August.

Demetre breaks down the recent shake-up at the CDC and why the best sign that federal public health efforts are working are that they’re not in the news – unlike today.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Dr. Demetre’s Instagram

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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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: worship of a charismatic leader who can't be criticized, apocalyptic crisis narratives, conspiratorial thinking that explains away inconvenient facts, and promises to return to a "pure" past. Sound familiar?

The “Make America Great Again” and “Make America Healthy Again” movements check many of these boxes even while acknowledging that the health threats many Americans face are very real. Are we addressing those threats through evidence and accountability, or through cult-like devotion to leaders who promise easy answers?

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Jane Borden’s Website

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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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 policy research organization KFF, about her groundbreaking research on the Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA, movement.

A Washington Post/KFF poll reveals surprising contradictions: Most MAHA parents vaccinate their kids but trust Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on vaccine information. These parents want more government regulation of food but support deregulating raw milk and they're more worried about fluoride than gun violence.

As the government shutdown fallout continues and with basic health protections at risk, this conversation explores how divided Americans are over what they want for their children's health.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Washington Post - Who Supports RFK Jr’s MAHA

KFF/The Washington Post Survey of Parents: Polling Insights on the MAHA Movement

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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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's polarized politics. She emphasizes the importance of holding all elected officials accountable, regardless of party, on their environmental health records.

Lindsay addresses the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, noting that Republican women joining the fight against toxic chemicals represent a continuation of decades-long grassroots organizing, not something new. She warns that voters who supported President Donald Trump based on Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy's promises need to hold the administration accountable as it rolls back air quality regulations, protections from the “forever chemicals” known as PFAS  and other environmental safeguards.

Lindsay is an incredible science communicator and encourages people to cut through social media disinformation to engage meaningfully with environmental health issues through their votes and advocacy.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Cleaning House: The fight to rid our homes of toxic chemicals

Lindsay Dahl’s Substack

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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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 warning about the consequences of moving too fast on clean energy without proper planning.

Ken and Matt explore why Americans’ electric bills are skyrocketing, what environmentalists get right and wrong about energy transitions and why California's rollback of rooftop solar incentives was such a devastating mistake.

This conversation proves that an environmentalist and an oilman can actually learn from each other through curiosity and facts. Whether you care about climate change, energy policy or just want to understand why your electric bill keeps climbing, this one is for you.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Mr. Global on TikTok

Mr. Global on Youtube

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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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 – measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to autism.

It was investigative journalist Brian Deer - author of, “The Doctor Who Fooled the World” - who exposed Wakefield’s deception and dismantled the fraudulent study.  Ken and Brian discuss how the Trump administration led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues to spread Wakefield’s falsehoods, exploit people’s fears and undermine public health.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Brian Deer's Website

The BMJ "How the vaccine crisis was meant to make money"

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

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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, consumer packaged goods, and the food industry at large.

Ken and Errol discuss food inflation, how federal immigration raids are impacting the food industry, and the disappointing lack of positive change coming from RFK Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” regime.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Errol's Substack - The Check Out Grocery Update

Errol's articles for Forbes

Errol Schweizer LLC

Michelle Obama Was Vilified by the Right. Then Came MAHA (Politico)

Isabella M. Weber Articles

United Farm Workers

Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy Report

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

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 women’s health conditions.

Lo shares her own personal health struggles, which led to her launching Love Wellness. She also talks about her IVF success story. By advocating for her own healthcare, Lo has created a movement that other people can follow.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Lo Bosworth

Love Yourself Well: An Empowering Wellness Guide to Supporting Your Gut, Brain, and Vagina

Endometriosis Foundation of America

My Story: Diagnosis Endometriosis

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

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. Bronner’s has been committed to being ethical, thoughtful and forward-thinking, operating with stewardship. The company is also an industry leader on the front lines of the “regenerative” agriculture movement and reducing its carbon footprint through constant innovation. Ken and Lisa also discuss her book Soap & Soul: A Practical Guide to Minding Your Body, Your Home, and Your Spirit with Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps and what inspired her to write it.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Dr. Bronner’s: The original all-one soap

EWG Verified: Dr. Bronner’s

Dr. Bronner’s Certifications

Going Green with Lisa Bronner

Campaign For Safe Cosmetics

“Soap and Soul: A Practical Guide to Minding Your Home, Your Body, and Your Spirit with Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps”

“Honor Thy Label: Dr. Bronner’s Unconventional Journey to a Clean, Green, and Ethical Supply Chain”

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

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, Canada. In that role, he’s the  principal investigator for a study examining fetal and early childhood exposures.

Lanphear is a leading proponent of using a science-based approach to assess the potential health harms children face through exposure to toxic chemicals.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Little Things Matter

Water fluoridation less effective now than in past (Cochrane Review)

Science and Decisions, Advancing Risk Assessment (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine)

Murderland

Hormones And Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: What You Need To Know (The Endocrine Society)

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

Will Westmoreland became an influencer overnight when he directly addressed a farmer's concerns over not receiving a rotational grazing reimbursement. The first/second Trump administration’s Department of Agriculture promised the money but then rescinded it. Will’s story made an impression on millions of people with the straightforward way he shared how the farmer voted against his best interest by supporting Donald Trump.

Westmoreland, Ken’s guest on today’s episode, is a farmer and political activist. He’s also the founder of The Back Forty, a bipartisan media company focused on fortifying and growing rural America, family farmers, ranchers, and nearby communities. It does this work through public education, infrastructure, healthcare, and economic development.

EWG and  The Back Forty are committed to helping rural Americans. EWG’s Farm Subsidy Database (visited by thousands of people daily) helps ensure public accountability for how taxpayer dollars are distributed in agricultural support programs.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

The Back Forty

@WestmorelandPops

Farm.EWG.org

Not All Corn Is the Same — Learn About the 3 Main Types with Our Handy Cheat Sheet (The Kitchn)

RHIhub Maps on Rural Healthcare Facilities

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

Under the Trump administration, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, and other key federal departments are shedding thousands of experienced scientists. This assault on federal scientists will have a lasting effect for generations, eliminating much-needed expertise that has historically played a central role in developing rules that protect human health and the environment.

Two leaders in the science community – Dr. Linda Birnbaum and Dr. Micah Niemeier-Walsh – talk with Ken about the widespread damage this brain drain is causing. Birnbaum worked at the EPA and as the director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Niemeier-Walsh is an industrial hygienist in the Firefighter Health Program and the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer at the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health.

Federal rules that safeguard the environment and public health need scientific research – without it, backsliding to weaker rules and more pollution is the only likely outcome.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Linda S. Birnbaum, Ph.D., D.A.B.T., A.T.S.

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

Food production is responsible for a third of the climate crisis, yet it’s the part of the problem we talk about the least. With agricultural land making up forty percent of our planet, we are literally eating the Earth. The first step is acknowledging the mess and the second is addressing it. In today’s episode, Ken is joined by investigative reporter Mike Grunwald. They discuss Mike’s exploration of our broken food system in his new book, “We Are Eating the Earth: The Race to Fix Our Food System and Save Our Climate”.

Both Ken and Mike acknowledge that industrial agriculture has many problems: it mistreats workers and animals, pollutes air and water, and relies too heavily on toxic chemicals and antibiotics. But they also share a conviction that reform is possible — and essential — if we want to feed a growing population without destroying the planet.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

We Are Eating the Earth The Race to Fix Our Food System and Save Our Climate

Monsanto Hid Decades Of Pollution (The Washington Post, 2002)

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

The Republican-led Congress is considering a “Big Beautiful” reconciliation bill that might include new hurdles for crucial assistance programs like Medicaid and SNAP, such as adding work requirements and increasing paperwork. GOP lawmakers claim the changes aim to tackle fraud, waste and abuse in the programs.

In today’s episode, Ken talks with Bob Greenstein, founder and president emeritus of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a think tank that for more than 40 years has been the gold standard for analyzing the impact of federal and state government budget policies.

Ken and Bob highlight the millions of Americans who will lose access to health care and food assistance if the bill becomes law. A core EWG belief is that you can’t help people make healthier choices if they don’t have access to food. Creating barriers to, and reducing, benefits, doesn’t mean healthier kids – it only leads to hungrier kids.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

The Brookings Institution

Paul Krugman's Substack

Work Requirements and Work Supports for Recipients of Means-Tested Benefits (CBO)

The Recession of 2007–2009 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Medicaid Work Requirements In Arkansas: Two-Year Impacts On Coverage, Employment, And Affordability Of Care (NIH)

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

While there are positive aspects of having top government officials talking about chronic disease prevention and diet, the food industry's primary goal remains profit – not public health. In today’s episode, Ken is joined by Marion Nestle, one of America's most respected voices on nutrition and food politics.

Marion believes that truly addressing human health and equality in food requires getting politics out of the discussion. She has dedicated her career to advocating for public health and food policy, is a professor at NYU, author of several books and writes the daily newsletter Food Politics.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Marion Nestle’s Newsletter Food Politics

Marion Nestle’s Books

Awareness of the MyPlate Plan: United States, 2017–March 2020

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Food Research & Action Center

Food security among SNAP participants 2019 to 2021: a cross-sectional analysis of current population survey food security supplement data (Journal of Nutritional Science)

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

Eric Garcia is a journalist and author who challenges the misconceptions about autism spectrum disorder through his own experience living with autism. In Eric’s book, “We’re Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation,” he explores how society can improve support for people on the spectrum through policy, education and healthcare.

In today’s episode Ken is joined by Eric to refute Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 's harmful and scientifically discredited claims linking autism to vaccines. But more importantly, this episode is about changing the conversation around autism to focus on the importance of self-advocacy, inclusion, progress and respect.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

We’re Not Broken Changing the Autism Conversation

Sen. Maggie Hassan questions RFK Jr. in confirmation hearing

In a Different Key: The Story of Autism

Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity

The Closing of Willowbrook (DisabilityJustice.org)

Robert Kennedy Visiting Institutions in NY

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

There are times when society needs to act, the government needs to act, and today we’re going to focus on how you can act for your health. It’s rare for physicians to help you live a healthier life by integrating the whole notion of environment health. But in today’s episode Ken is joined by one of the country’s leading medical and legal experts in environmental health, Dr. Aly Cohen – a triple board-certified physician in rheumatology, internal medicine, and integrative medicine.

Dr. Aly Cohen has a new book out today, “Detoxify, The Everyday Toxins Harming Your Immune System and How to Defend Against Them.”

We’re excited to share this episode May 6 – the day her book comes out – because there are many great tips that you can follow to make a positive impact on your life.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

DETOXIFY: The Everyday Toxins Harming Your Immune System and How to Defend Against Them

Dr. Aly Cohen Instagram

Dr. Aly Cohen Website

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

The U.S. faces a growing measles outbreak. At the time of this recording, there are more than 800 confirmed cases and at least three deaths, including two young children who were unvaccinated. These tragic losses were almost certainly preventable with the MMR vaccine, which is safe, highly effective and widely available.

Measles is one of the most contagious diseases on earth, and it spreads quickly in communities with low vaccination rates. Once nearly eliminated in the U.S., a rise in vaccine hesitancy has opened the door for its return, fueled by misinformation, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The danger isn’t just measles. Falling vaccination rates threaten to bring back other serious, preventable diseases once under control.

In today’s episode, Ken talks with two leading experts on why it’s critical that parents and caregivers stay informed and make sure children are fully vaccinated — not just for their own safety, but for the health of our communities. The first segment is with Dr. Mike Koster, Pediatric Infectious Disease Professor at Brown University. The second segment features Jessica Malaty Rivera, MS, an infectious disease epidemiologist and award-winning science communicator.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Jessica Malaty Rivera, MS

Michael P Koster, Professor of Pediatrics, Clinician Educator

Kennedy, in His Own Words: Flu, Diabetes, Autism and More (NYTimes, January 2025)

Thimerosal and Vaccines (FDA.gov)

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccine Education Center

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

Unraveling decades of environmental progress, the Trump administration is systematically dismantling the Environmental Protection Agency. It’s dismantling critical statutes that have protected public health and the environment for years.

In today’s episode, Ken is joined by his old boss and mentor, former EPA Administrator Bill Reilly, who served in various roles under four U.S. presidents — Richard Nixon, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. As EPA chief from 1989 to 1993, Reilly championed landmark policies like the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments.  He also played a key role in responding to major environmental disasters, including the Exxon Valdez and BP Deepwater Horizon oil spills.

The Trump administration claims to be defunding the EPA for “economic reasons.” Bill and Ken, however, highlight how environmental regulations have historically driven economic growth rather than hindered it as the agency’s critics claim.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Three Former E.P.A. Leaders: You’ll Miss It When It’s Gone

Administrator William K. Reilly, 1989-1993 (EPA Archives)

The Cuyahoga River Caught Fire at Least a Dozen Times, but No One Cared Until 1969 (Smithsonian Magazine)

Lee Zeldin "Power the Great American Comeback"

Clean Air Act Revisions (C-SPAN)

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling (C-SPAN)

Alaskan Oil Spill Update (C-SPAN)

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

Ken is continuing his cook's tour of the who’s-who at public interest organizations. He’s joined by DJ Gerken, the president and executive director of the Southern Environmental Law Center.

SELC is the largest environmental nonprofit organization in the southeastern United States. It fights daily to protect our right to clean water, clean air, and a liveable climate. Ken and DJ discuss the latest coming from Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency that has unleashed a wave of controversial moves, from deep budget and staff cuts, office closures and unprecedented rollbacks of critical environmental and public health protections. They debate the current playing field, and how both EWG and SELC are rising to protect American health.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Southern Environmental Law Center

E.P.A. Plans to Close All Environmental Justice Offices

Lee Zeldin "Power the Great American Comeback"

EPA shuts down 10 environmental justice offices, axes EJ division

EPA eliminating environmental justice jobs

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

Ken’s having another episode, one that quite a lot of people are having lately, all about the federal job layoffs. This is a little bit tricky, as Ken and EWG have at times been critical of the very agencies that are in the Trump administration’s crosshairs.

To help Ken unpack this, he’s joined by his friend and environmental hero, Peter Galvin. Peter is one of the founders and the director of programs for the Center for Biological Diversity. They talk about policy, strategies for the next four years, and how their organizations will rise to the occasion to ensure all Americans have a cleaner, safer, non-toxic future.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

The Center for Biological Diversity

Frequent Questions and Answers: Draft Sewage Sludge Risk Assessment for PFOA and PFOS (EPA)

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING: EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to Unleash American Greatness as Head of EPA

ICYMI: Administrator Zeldin on Record-Breaking Response: How EPA Tackled California’s Wildfire Crisis

PFAS in sludge spread on farmland poses health risks, EPA report says

OPM-OMB Memo Guidance on Agency RIF and Reorganization Plans Requested by Implementing The President’s “Department of Government Efficiency” Workforce Optimization Initiative 2-26-2025

She Lobbied for a Carcinogen. Now She’s at the E.P.A., Approving New Chemicals (NYTimes)

PFAS Rule Withdrawn

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

The meat industry has been consolidating rapidly for decades, concentrating its power in a way that creates problems not only for the environment but also for farming communities in the U.S. and around the world.

In today’s episode, Ken is joined by Chloe Sorvino, a journalist at Forbes and author of the new book “Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed, and the Fight for the Future of Meat.” Chloe unravels a tangled web of bribery, deceit, and international corporate intrigue as she explores the dark side of the modern industrialized meat industry.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Chloe's website

Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed, and the Fight for the Future of Meat.

EWG Food Scores: Meat

Decoding Meat And Dairy Product Labels

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

Ken Cook is having another episode, and this one is all about two R’s: Red Dye 3 and RFK Jr.

Ken is joined by his fellow public interest leader Dr. Peter Lurie, the  president and executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, or CSPI. He has a storied career in public health, including a stint as the Food and Drug Administration’s associate commissioner for public health strategy and analysis during the Obama administration.

Thanks to a petition CSPI filed with the FDA in 2022 FDA petition, Red Dye 3 is now banned from use in food products in the U.S.

In today’s episode, Ken and Dr. Lurie celebrate that victory and discuss how CSPI, EWG, and other public interest groups are rising to meet this challenging political moment for public health.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

www.cspinet.org

EWG Food Scores: Red Dye 3

What is GRAS?

Thank you to our live-stream guests

Day One:

Dr. Rob Davidson, Executive Director of The Committee to Protect Health Care

Dr. Georges Benjamin, Executive Director of American Public Health Association 

Day Two:

Tom Philpott, Senior Research Analyst at Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future

Executive Director Northe Saunders and Advocacy Director Jen Herricks at SAFE Communities Coalition Action Fund

Max Goldberg, founder of the newsletter Organic Insider

Darya Minovi, Senior Analyst at The Center for Science and Democracy at The Union of Concerned Scientists

Author and entrepreneur, Robyn O’Brien

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

Our skin is our largest organ, and applying some personal care products may let harmful chemicals sink into the body. That’s why Ken feels so strongly about the importance of non-toxic beauty alternatives.

In today’s episode, he’s joined by Hillary Peterson, the founder of True Botanicals, a skincare company offering products without problematic ingredients. Hillary is a cancer survivor who was motivated to start her company after listening to Ken speak on NPR about how chemicals in personal care products end up in the umbilical cord blood in pregnant people.

Every True Botanicals product is EWG Verified® and sourced with organic regenerative farm and wild harvest ingredients. Now entering their tenth year, True Botanicals is dedicated to reimagining what responsible, ethical beauty looks like. Ken and Hillary discuss her journey, influences, and what’s next in the world of better beauty.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

True Botanicals Website

Food Forest Network

Skin Deep

EWG’s Tap Water Database

Body Burden: The Pollution in Newborns (EWG)

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

Chemicals in our food, water, and air are risk factors contributing to the rise of Parkinson’s disease. It’s  the fastest-growing brain disease in the world, creating urgency to address not just treatment for Parkinson’s but also its causes.

Today’s guest is Dr. Ray Dorsey, a neurologist who co-authored the book, “Ending Parkinson’s Disease: A Prescription for Action.” He explains why Parkinson’s is a man-made disease and how eliminating harmful chemicals in food, water, and air could help get rid of it. EWG is on a mission to ban harmful pesticides like paraquat that have links to Parkinson’s disease. We’re thrilled to have Ray as an ally and leader in the fight. Head on over to BanParaquat.org to join the effort.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Paraquat Papers

BanParaquat.org

Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

At EWG we believe everyone should have access to safe products, clean drinking water, healthy food, and clean air. We believe in that so much that we’ve spent decades fighting for you.

Ken sits down with his colleagues Scott Faber and Jocelyn Lyle to discuss EWG’s impact in 2024 and what’s to come in 2025. From a potential Red dye-3 ban to pesticides in produce to PFAS in your drinking water, EWG has made incredible progress.

We’ll have our challenges in 2025 but we’re ready to face them head-on, but not before we celebrate this year’s successes with you, our listeners. Thank you for your support and we’re excited to do it again with you next year.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

EWG’s Dirty Dozen

EWG Verified

EWG’s Healthy Living App

Alaska Community Action on Toxics

Breast Cancer Prevention Partners

Center for Environmental Health

Clean Water Action

Natural Resources Defense Council

Sierra Club

Illinois Environmental Council

 

Defend Our Health

Maryland PIRG

Alliance for a Healthier Tomorrow

Resilient Sisterhood Project

Ecology Center

Women’s Voices for the Earth

Clean + Healthy

Earthjustice

Clean Cape Fear

North Carolina Conservation Network

Oregon Environmental Council

Vermont Conservation Voters

Vermont Natural Resources Council

Vermont Public Interest Research Group

Toxic-Free Future

Zero Waste Washington

Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments

 

Break Free From Plastic

Center for Environmental Health

Clean Production Action

Commonweal

Consumer Reports

Environmental Defense Fund

International Pollutants Elimination Network

Learning Disabilities Association of America

National Caucus of Environmental Legislators

Silent Spring Institute

Toxic-Free Future

Union of Concerned Scientists

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

We know which healthy choices we need to make to improve our diet and health but it can seem so daunting in the moment. In today’s episode Ken is joined by pharmacist turned wellness content creator, Mona Vand to tackle exactly that. Sometimes it doesn’t feel convenient to eat healthy or find healthy options when you need something quick but Mona helps reframe how to approach food prep and what to look for.

If you travel as frequently as Ken and Mona, eating healthy can be very tricky. Mona provides some great tips to improve your energy and how to eat healthy and move your body while on the road.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

MonaVand.com

Mona's Instagram

EWG’s Dirty Dozen

EWG Verified

EWG’s Healthy Living App

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

No matter your politics, you want the food you and your family eat every day to be safe. So why do so many of the products on the grocery store shelves have worrisome  food chemical additives that have been banned in other countries, including many linked to cancer and behavioral problems in children.

To help unravel this, Ken is joined by EWG’s Vice President of Government Affairs Melanie Benesh to do a deep dive into the world of food additives. They discuss how the failures by federal regulators at the FDA have allowed food companies to add troubling chemicals linked to serious health problems into countless foods, and how some states like California are taking a stand on behalf of consumers. 

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

EWG’s Dirty Dozen

EWG Verified

EWG’s Healthy Living App

What is Propyl Paraben?

Propyl Paraben: Are you eating an endocrine disruptor?

Common food additives in Cap’n Crunch and Apple Jacks cereal may harm human health

Thousands of children’s sweets STILL contain additive unsafe for human consumption

California agency acknowledges synthetic food dyes’ link to hyperactivity and behavioral problems in kids

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

Babies are our most vulnerable population when it comes to chemical exposure. And yet, many baby products contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals.

Entrepreneur, environmentalist, and trailblazer Shazi Visram wants to protect the next generation. Shazi’s mission isn’t just business, it’s personal, and the subject of neurological health is particularly close to her heart. 

Shazi is the creator of the groundbreaking baby food company Happy Baby and has launched her newest venture - HealthyBaby. Her line of baby personal care products are all EWG Verified.

In today’s episode Ken and Shazi sit down after an EWG board meeting to talk about her journey, what inspires her, and why being EWG-verified is so important to her.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Shazi's website

Happy Family Organics

HealthyBaby

EWG Verified

EWG’s Healthy Living App

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

Do you need an election recovery tool kit? Well, you’ve come to the right place. In today’s episode, Ken is joined by activist, educator, author, and podcast host, Jenna Arnold. Her book, Raising Our Hands, dives deep into conversations with white women about their identity, role in the country, and how to become more engaged citizens to make the changes we desperately need.

As a Women’s March Organizer, Jenna is constantly asking questions about what went wrong, what can be done next and what we need to learn more about.

For a deeper dive into today’s discussion:

Jenna Arnold’s Website

Raising Our Hands How White Women Can Stop Avoiding Hard Conversations, Start Accepting Responsibility, And Find Our Place on the New Front Lines

Jenna’s Instagram @itsjenna

Jenna’s Podcast Let’s Begin

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup