Bruce Lanphear

The Toxic Truth Behind Heart Attacks How the Auto Industry Fueled the Heart Disease Epidemic

For 50 years, heart disease has killed more Americans than anything else. Our film traces how a pervasive toxic element—quietly woven into daily life—helped drive a national epidemic, and how pulling that toxic element back helped save hundreds of millions of lives.

How Big Sugar pushed fluoride — new study alleges a century of spin The sugar industry and companies that make sweet drinks and foods have spent nearly a century downplaying sugar’s role in health problems and distorting the science around fluoride — and the practice ...

In the 1940s, the sugar industry faced a crisis. Research was mounting that sugar was driving the epidemic of tooth decay, but reducing sugar consumption was unthinkable for an industry built on sales. So industry leaders pulled off a sleight of hand worthy of Big Tobacco.

THE FLUORIDE EXPERIMENT How the Sugar Industry Used Fluoridation as a Smokescreen

The Fluoride Experiment
For decades, Americans have been told that adding fluoride to our drinking water prevents tooth decay. But what if there’s another side to the story—one that involves corporate money, manipulated science, and a policy that may be doing more harm than good?

Breakthroughs in Medicine Seeing the World through an Environmental Lens

Breakthroughs in Medicine
We often think of medical breakthroughs as new drugs, devices, or diagnostic tests—things we can hold, prescribe, or patent. But revolutions in medicine often begin not with a new molecule, but with a new mindset. It’s not just what we see; it’s how we see it.

The Science of Delay Why we wait until millions are harmed by toxic chemicals before we act

The Science of Delay
The lesson of PFAS is the same lesson we should have learned from lead, asbestos, and air pollution: if we wait until the evidence is definitive, we’ve waited too long.

Which Side Are You On? Finding Common Ground in an Age of Tribalism

Which Side Are You On?
The line I draw is with scientists who pretend to be independent while secretly cashing checks from the industries they defend. They don’t just betray themselves—they corrode trust in science itself.

The Chronicles of Lead Toxicity A History Cast in Fire, Frozen in Ice

The Chronicles of Lead Toxicity
We know what is typical in a world saturated with lead. But true normal—of health, behavior, intelligence—may have slipped away long ago, buried in the layers of ice, etched into tree rings, and written in our bones.

A Thousand Thanks Six months, 1000 readers and a community that matters

A Thousand Thanks
One of the unexpected thrills of Substack has been the conversations it sparks. Some of you write thoughtful comments, others send quiet emails, and some simply open and read each post. All of it matters. Writing can be solitary, but this space has never felt lonely.

There’s a reason Eric Topol stands at the forefront of modern medicine: he combines a critical eye for solid evidence with an uncommon openness to new ideas.

Chronic Lead Exposure, a Risk Factor for Heart Disease Plus: My Recommendations for Reducing Risk of Heart Disease

Things you might not know about chronic, low-level lead exposure and heart disease, including the lead-estrogen hypothesis
"In 2019, a total of 5.5 million deaths from cardiovascular disease were attributed to lead exposure"
Learn from @blanphear.bsky.social
erictopol.substack.com/p/is-chronic...

“Follow the Science”— or Just the Convenient Parts? We Keep Ignoring the Warnings at the Cost of Lives—and Trust

When science that threatens powerful interests is ignored, the public notices—even if they don’t know the details. The irony is that ignoring inconvenient science doesn’t just harm public health—it erodes the very trust needed to mobilize public health measures in the future.

YouTube video by Physicians & Scientists for Global Responsibility Bruce Lanphear Chemical Exposures & Risks. Making Sense of Science, Public Health & Economic Benefit

🔥HUGE 🔥🔥 interview with @blanphear.bsky.social public health physician & paediatric epidemiologist.

Chemical Exposures & the Toxic Risks. Making Sense of Science, Public Health, & Economic Benefit.

#DoHaD #lead #pesticides #fluoride #pollution #babies #brains
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgB9...

Industry loves to say, ‘The dose makes the poison.’ But what if that’s a lie that’s been poisoning policy for decades? Ken Cook talks with Dr. Bruce Lanphear about how a 500-year-old mantra still shields polluters—and why tiny doses can cause massive harm."

Industry loves to say, ‘The dose makes the poison.’ But what if that’s a lie that’s been poisoning policy for decades?

YouTube video by Plagues, Pollution & Poverty EWG's Ken Cook interviews Dr. Bruce Lanphear

Bruce talks with EWG's Ken Cook to take apart the lingering myth that “the dose makes the poison” – a chemical industry claim that there can be safe levels of toxic exposure. www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIGF...

The ADHD Epidemic We Choose to Ignore A Preventable Epidemic of Staggering Proportions

The ADHD Epidemic We Choose to Ignore
We found that 8.7% of children had ADHD in a national study. That was striking enough. We also attributed one in three cases of ADHD in US children to two toxic chemicals. These weren’t obscure exposures, this was everyday life in America.

I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with Ken Cook of EWG. Few people have done more to expose the dangers of toxic chemicals. We dug into the old adage “the dose makes the poison”—and why it doesn’t always hold up. Please listen while you walk around the park or enjoy a beverage before dinner.

YouTube video by Environmental Working Group (EWG) “The dose makes the poison” is outdated

EWG scientists work to identify potential health harms from chemical exposure in everyday products so that consumers can make safer choices—and to debunk the myth that “the dose makes the poison.” Dr. Bruce Lanphear and I discuss why even low-level exposures can be harmful. @blanphear.bsky.social

Rally: Sound Science Saves Lives · Mobilize Science and public research are under attack in this country. Indiscriminate cuts to federal research agencies and political interference are causing research studies to be paused, programs halted, an...

I won't be able to attend Indivisible Georgia Coalition's event, “Rally: Sound Science Saves Lives” in Atlanta, Goergia—but I wholeheartedly support it.

THE CANCER EXPRESS The Hidden Cost of India’s Green Revolution

THE CANCER EXPRESS
They are not going to New Delhi to visit family or conduct business. They are going to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences—to be treated for cancer. This train has a name. The locals call it the Cancer Express.

The Most Honorable Kind of Work On legacy, humility, and the quiet power of doing good work

The Most Honorable Kind of Work
The most honorable contributions are those offered without the expectation of recognition, status, or repayment. They are made for the sake of truth, justice, or human progress—regardless of whether anyone notices.

Lead by Mary Oliver Here is a story to break your heart. Are you willing?

Lead by Mary Oliver
Here is a story
to break your heart.
Are you willing?

The Smelter Next Door How Stories Brings Science to Life

We need a story that reminds us our lives are stitched to the soil, the air, and the water—that every breath, every bite, every sip binds us to the earth and to one another.

Confessions of a Toxicologist Complicity isn't just institutional. It's personal, too. This is a reckoning—not just for one toxicologist, but for any of us who've waited to act or speak out.

Confessions of a Toxicologist

I am guilty.

Ancestral Redundancy The Tangled Branches of Our Family Trees

Ancestral Redundancy Genealogy changed how I move through the world. I can’t go a day without reading about or meeting someone whose surname appears in the last 10 generations of my ancestry, a constant reminder of how connected we all are.

Toxic Toys and the Death of Oversight A Compelling Case for Stronger Public Health

Toxic Toys and the Death of Oversight

The people who work in public health agencies are the last line of defense between you and a very dangerous kind of freedom. The freedom to sell anything, no matter how toxic. The freedom to ignore evidence. The freedom to look the other way.

What the New York Times Keeps Missing And Why it Matters More Than Ever

What the New York Times Keeps Missing

If the cause is framed as genetic or behavioral, the solution stays in the clinic. But if the cause includes toxic chemicals, prevention becomes possible.

All Work is Sacred, but it Shouldn’t Come with a Death Sentence. You're Gonna Miss NIOSH When It's Gone

All Work is Sacred, but it Shouldn’t Come with a Death Sentence.

Collateral Damage The Hidden Cost of Living in a Toxic World

These deaths aren’t random. They’re regulatory failures. They are, quite literally, collateral damage.

Why do we invest against our own best, long-term interests?

Rethinking Autism’s Origins Beyond the Genome

Genes feel safe—impersonal, fixed, beyond our control. The environment is messier. It forces us to ask harder questions about responsibility. It leads us to industry practices, weak regulations, and who should be held accountable.