Maricel V. Maffini
@mvmaffini.bsky.social
Scientist; loves dogs; works on chemicals safety and environmental health. Can't manage what's not measured. Bioquimica & Ph.D. (UNL FBCB-ARG alumna)
Phthalates are the quintessential example of failure to protect the public from exposure to toxic chemicals. No matter how high the mountain of evidence is, it's never enough for the regulators to act. wapo.st/4otSko4
How these chemicals went everywhere and threatened our health
These chemicals continue to contaminate Americans’ food, decades after scientists recognized their dangers.
wapo.st
December 2, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Phthalates are the quintessential example of failure to protect the public from exposure to toxic chemicals. No matter how high the mountain of evidence is, it's never enough for the regulators to act. wapo.st/4otSko4
Trump officials set to approve ‘forever chemical’ as pesticide ingredient. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Trump officials set to approve ‘forever chemical’ as pesticide ingredient
Critics say that fifth Pfas Trump’s EPA has proposed for approval this year would put food and water supply at risk
www.theguardian.com
November 15, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Trump officials set to approve ‘forever chemical’ as pesticide ingredient. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
New analysis identifies 14 cancer-causing substances allowed in U.S. food. Despite a clear legal prohibition of carcinogens in food, several are still permitted, posing a risk to Americans’ health. @envdefensefund.bsky.social blogs.edf.org/health/2025/...
New analysis identifies 14 cancer-causing substances allowed in U.S. food - EDF Health
Despite a clear legal prohibition of carcinogens in food, several are still permitted, posing a risk to Americans’ health. By Maria Doa, Liora Fiksel and Emma Barrett What’s new? A new EDF analysis ha...
blogs.edf.org
November 15, 2025 at 3:00 PM
New analysis identifies 14 cancer-causing substances allowed in U.S. food. Despite a clear legal prohibition of carcinogens in food, several are still permitted, posing a risk to Americans’ health. @envdefensefund.bsky.social blogs.edf.org/health/2025/...
“While industry says ‘faster, faster’ and uses buzz words like ‘progress and innovation,’ it is essential that policymakers understand the repercussions of unleashing new toxic chemicals on the population,” @traceywoodruff.bsky.social
www.thenewlede.org/2025/10/tsca...
www.thenewlede.org/2025/10/tsca...
Senate hearing exposes divide over chemical safety law
Industry leaders and Republicans in Congress again signaled their desire to hasten federal reviews of new chemicals at a Senate hearing, while an environmental health expert warned such changes will l...
www.thenewlede.org
October 27, 2025 at 9:00 PM
“While industry says ‘faster, faster’ and uses buzz words like ‘progress and innovation,’ it is essential that policymakers understand the repercussions of unleashing new toxic chemicals on the population,” @traceywoodruff.bsky.social
www.thenewlede.org/2025/10/tsca...
www.thenewlede.org/2025/10/tsca...
Today a diverse coalition of 84 organizations called on House and Senate lawmakers to oppose any legislative efforts that would block state laws protecting consumers from toxic chemicals in food. www.ewg.org/news-insight...
Over 80 groups urge Congress to oppose legislation blocking state food safety laws
WASHINGTON – Today a diverse coalition of 84 organizations called on House and
www.ewg.org
October 24, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Today a diverse coalition of 84 organizations called on House and Senate lawmakers to oppose any legislative efforts that would block state laws protecting consumers from toxic chemicals in food. www.ewg.org/news-insight...
NYC prohibits the use of the following low- and no-calorie sweeteners: acesulfame potassium, advantame, allulose, aspartame, brazzein, monatin, monk fruit, neotame, polydextrose, rebauside, rebaudioside, (continues)
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/n...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/n...
New N.Y.C. Food Standards Could Spell Doom for Chicken Nuggets
www.nytimes.com
September 3, 2025 at 5:46 PM
NYC prohibits the use of the following low- and no-calorie sweeteners: acesulfame potassium, advantame, allulose, aspartame, brazzein, monatin, monk fruit, neotame, polydextrose, rebauside, rebaudioside, (continues)
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/n...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/n...
ProPublica analysis shows the administration cuts to health agencies are deeper than it has acknowledged. Though Kennedy said he would add scientists to the workforce, agencies have lost thousands of them.
projects.propublica.org/federal-heal...,
projects.propublica.org/federal-heal...,
Gutted: How Deeply Trump Has Cut Federal Health Agencies
More than 20,500 workers have left or been pushed out of federal health agencies, a ProPublica analysis found. Staffers say the cuts will leave their agencies less equipped to conduct studies, perform...
projects.propublica.org
August 21, 2025 at 1:43 PM
ProPublica analysis shows the administration cuts to health agencies are deeper than it has acknowledged. Though Kennedy said he would add scientists to the workforce, agencies have lost thousands of them.
projects.propublica.org/federal-heal...,
projects.propublica.org/federal-heal...,
Mounting evidence suggests that exposure to so-called endocrine-disrupting chemicals present in many products, from food and beverage containers to furniture and agricultural pesticides, may affect male potency from the very beginning of life.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/o...
Opinion | The Problem Is With Men’s Sperm
www.nytimes.com
August 12, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Mounting evidence suggests that exposure to so-called endocrine-disrupting chemicals present in many products, from food and beverage containers to furniture and agricultural pesticides, may affect male potency from the very beginning of life.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/o...
“The science is established that mixtures of chemicals present below the individual threshold can cause effects,” said @jmuncke.bsky.social. Roughly 3,600 food contact chemicals have been detected in humans, & at least 80 are linked to health concerns.
www.thenewlede.org/2025/06/fda-...
www.thenewlede.org/2025/06/fda-...
FDA must fix food packaging rules for MAHA to matter, scientists say
By Brian Bienkowski A grim assessment of children’s health released by the Trump administration last month that pointed to several types of chemicals as contributors to chronic disease has scientist...
www.thenewlede.org
June 20, 2025 at 3:31 PM
“The science is established that mixtures of chemicals present below the individual threshold can cause effects,” said @jmuncke.bsky.social. Roughly 3,600 food contact chemicals have been detected in humans, & at least 80 are linked to health concerns.
www.thenewlede.org/2025/06/fda-...
www.thenewlede.org/2025/06/fda-...
FDA Seeks Input on a New Method for Ranking Chemicals in Food for Post-market Assessments. Deadline for comments is July 18. See the docket 👇
www.regulations.gov/docket/FDA-2...
www.regulations.gov/docket/FDA-2...
Regulations.gov
www.regulations.gov
June 19, 2025 at 1:38 PM
FDA Seeks Input on a New Method for Ranking Chemicals in Food for Post-market Assessments. Deadline for comments is July 18. See the docket 👇
www.regulations.gov/docket/FDA-2...
www.regulations.gov/docket/FDA-2...
La SEMG advierte sobre el papel de los envases en la exposición a disruptores endocrinos y sus efectos en la salud pública.
www.immedicohospitalario.es/noticia/5164...
www.immedicohospitalario.es/noticia/5164...
Congreso SEMG No podemos hablar de una salud alimentaria si no hay seguridad en el envase
Cómo perjudican a nuestra salud los microplásticos y otros disruptores endocrinos La SEMG advierte sobre el papel de los envases en la exposición a
www.immedicohospitalario.es
June 16, 2025 at 3:27 PM
La SEMG advierte sobre el papel de los envases en la exposición a disruptores endocrinos y sus efectos en la salud pública.
www.immedicohospitalario.es/noticia/5164...
www.immedicohospitalario.es/noticia/5164...
Currently, companies can designate the use of a substance as generally recognized as safe (GRAS), & market their products without telling FDA. While companies may voluntarily submit a notice to FDA offering safety evidence, they are not required to & often don’t. thehill.com/opinion/heal...
thehill.com
June 8, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Currently, companies can designate the use of a substance as generally recognized as safe (GRAS), & market their products without telling FDA. While companies may voluntarily submit a notice to FDA offering safety evidence, they are not required to & often don’t. thehill.com/opinion/heal...
@ucsf-prhe.bsky.social did the math: EPA’s calculations of male reproductive harm from exposure to endocrine disrupting phthalate DCHP are off by 50,000x. prheucsf.blog/2025/05/15/w...
We did the math. EPA’s calculations of male reproductive harm from DCHP are off by 50,000x.
Despite decades of scientific research and evaluation linking phthalates to male reproductive harm and infertility, these chemicals remain largely unregulated in the United States. There is little ind...
prheucsf.blog
June 3, 2025 at 2:53 PM
@ucsf-prhe.bsky.social did the math: EPA’s calculations of male reproductive harm from exposure to endocrine disrupting phthalate DCHP are off by 50,000x. prheucsf.blog/2025/05/15/w...
apnews.com/article/ultr... in blood and urine may reveal how much ultraprocessed food we are eating
Markers in blood and urine may reveal how much ultraprocessed food we are eating
Scientists have identified molecules from blood and urine that may reveal how much energy a person consumes from ultraprocessed foods.
apnews.com
May 22, 2025 at 2:33 PM
apnews.com/article/ultr... in blood and urine may reveal how much ultraprocessed food we are eating
To curb chronic disease in Americans, the FDA needs to assert regulatory control over toxic chemicals in our food. www.ehn.org/fda-gras-loo...
To curb chronic disease in Americans, the FDA needs to regulate toxic chemicals in our food.
FDA reform — not just narrow ingredient bans — is needed to make America healthier.
www.ehn.org
May 16, 2025 at 1:58 PM
To curb chronic disease in Americans, the FDA needs to assert regulatory control over toxic chemicals in our food. www.ehn.org/fda-gras-loo...
What Kennedy Gets Right About the Chemicals in Our Food @juliabelluz.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/12/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/12/o...
Opinion | What Kennedy Gets Right About the Chemicals in Our Food
www.nytimes.com
May 13, 2025 at 1:00 PM
What Kennedy Gets Right About the Chemicals in Our Food @juliabelluz.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/12/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/12/o...
this is such important work. Thank you, Mariah for elevating the struggles and resilience of the communities affected by PFAS!
Today is the day! After eight long years, They Poisoned the World, is out. The book interweaves the moving story of a small town on the frontlines of an epic global crisis with a deep investigation of one the most brazen cover-ups in corporate history. 1/
May 6, 2025 at 1:36 PM
this is such important work. Thank you, Mariah for elevating the struggles and resilience of the communities affected by PFAS!
Join us on Wed, April 30th for webinar Ultra-Processed Food & Plastics: A Toxic Relationship, organized by Interfaith Public Network. Learn about the health concerns and opportunities for action from US and EU experts.
April 29, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Join us on Wed, April 30th for webinar Ultra-Processed Food & Plastics: A Toxic Relationship, organized by Interfaith Public Network. Learn about the health concerns and opportunities for action from US and EU experts.
Reposted by Maricel V. Maffini
One day they’re working on fulfilling grant requirements, the next they’re being accused of participating in a criminal “scheme.”
The new threats facing green groups — and the people who work for them.
www.propublica.org/article/eart...
The new threats facing green groups — and the people who work for them.
www.propublica.org/article/eart...
Earthjustice President Describes a “Fundamentally Different” Era of Hostility Toward Environmentalists
Abigail Dillen sees the increase of lawsuits targeting green groups as just one of the growing threats to environmental advocacy organizations — and the people who staff them.
www.propublica.org
April 23, 2025 at 2:19 PM
One day they’re working on fulfilling grant requirements, the next they’re being accused of participating in a criminal “scheme.”
The new threats facing green groups — and the people who work for them.
www.propublica.org/article/eart...
The new threats facing green groups — and the people who work for them.
www.propublica.org/article/eart...
“There’s no one ingredient that accounts for the childhood chronic disease epidemic,” Makary said. Taking petroleum-based food dyes out of the food supply is not a silver bullet. But it is one important step.” wapo.st/4joy5X7
RFK Jr. announces intent to phase out synthetic food dyes
The HHS secretary has frequently blasted food dyes found in candy, cereals, drinks and snacks, and he has made cracking down on color additives a focus of his agenda.
wapo.st
April 23, 2025 at 11:37 AM
“There’s no one ingredient that accounts for the childhood chronic disease epidemic,” Makary said. Taking petroleum-based food dyes out of the food supply is not a silver bullet. But it is one important step.” wapo.st/4joy5X7
EPA ordered its staff to start canceling grants already awarded. Although EPA is not a large funder of R&D compared with other agencies, it does provide $35 million to $40 million each year to researchers studying the impacts of pollution & ways to reduce them.
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
EPA orders staff to begin canceling research grants
Agency targets programs that award up to $40 million annually
www.science.org
April 22, 2025 at 12:03 PM
EPA ordered its staff to start canceling grants already awarded. Although EPA is not a large funder of R&D compared with other agencies, it does provide $35 million to $40 million each year to researchers studying the impacts of pollution & ways to reduce them.
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Are scientific and medical journals the latest target of efforts by the administration to reshape U.S. research? The interim U.S. attorney for the DC has sent multiple journal editors letters asserting their publications are “partisans in various scientific debates”
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Trump administration targets academic journals with attorney letter, proposed funding cuts
Budget plan would kill two CDC journals, while U.S. prosecutor accuses some nongovernmental publications of being “partisans”
www.science.org
April 22, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Are scientific and medical journals the latest target of efforts by the administration to reshape U.S. research? The interim U.S. attorney for the DC has sent multiple journal editors letters asserting their publications are “partisans in various scientific debates”
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Top researcher quits NIH, citing censorship under RFK Jr.
Watch the full video here: tinyurl.com/4fhc6k2c
Watch the full video here: tinyurl.com/4fhc6k2c
Top researcher quits NIH, citing censorship under RFK Jr. | CNN
Dr. Kevin Hall joins The Lead
tinyurl.com
April 18, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Top researcher quits NIH, citing censorship under RFK Jr.
Watch the full video here: tinyurl.com/4fhc6k2c
Watch the full video here: tinyurl.com/4fhc6k2c
Reposted by Maricel V. Maffini
The FDA announced plans this week to reduce — and possibly replace — animal testing with other methods for developing certain medicines in a bid to lower R&D costs and, eventually, the prices for prescription drugs.
FDA plans to phase out animal testing in drugs in what it calls a 'paradigm shift'
The move comes after lawmakers sought to force the agency to update regulations that would allow alternatives to animal testing.
buff.ly
April 12, 2025 at 6:23 PM
The FDA announced plans this week to reduce — and possibly replace — animal testing with other methods for developing certain medicines in a bid to lower R&D costs and, eventually, the prices for prescription drugs.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell today led a coalition of 16 attorneys general in suing the Trump Administration in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts over its unlawful attempt to disrupt grant funding issued by the NIH.
www.mass.gov/news/ag-camp...
www.mass.gov/news/ag-camp...
www.mass.gov
April 7, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell today led a coalition of 16 attorneys general in suing the Trump Administration in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts over its unlawful attempt to disrupt grant funding issued by the NIH.
www.mass.gov/news/ag-camp...
www.mass.gov/news/ag-camp...