Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode

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.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

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.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

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.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

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.
@kencookspodcast
www.ewg.org
@environmentalworkinggroup

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.
 
@kencookspodcast
 
www.ewg.org
 
@environmentalworkinggroup