Dimitri Abrahamsson
@dimiabrams.bsky.social
Chemistry and Computer Science nerd | Assistant Professor at UCSF | All things mass spectrometry and exposome
Yes, increasing the speed of risk evaluations is known to produce better environmental and health outcomes. We should also do that for drugs. We should speed up the release of experimental drugs and cut all the clinical trials. What could possibly go wrong? 🙄
Republicans and Democrats are at loggerheads on draft legislation that Republicans are promoting—and that the chemical industry is backing—to accelerate the pace of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s review of new substances before they enter commerce. cen.acs.org/policy/legis... #chemsky 🧪
Republicans and Democrats agree EPA’s new chemical reviews are too slow
But at a hearing on potential changes to the Toxic Substances Control Act, they disagreed on how to speed the process
cen.acs.org
January 27, 2026 at 8:24 PM
Yes, increasing the speed of risk evaluations is known to produce better environmental and health outcomes. We should also do that for drugs. We should speed up the release of experimental drugs and cut all the clinical trials. What could possibly go wrong? 🙄
Reposted by Dimitri Abrahamsson
If the chemical lobby gets its way, people will be exposed to a lot more harmful chemicals and more people will get sick and die.
https://prheucsf.blog/2026/01/21/the-chemical-lobby-is-trying-to-weaken-the-law-that-protects-people-from-toxic-chemicals/
https://prheucsf.blog/2026/01/21/the-chemical-lobby-is-trying-to-weaken-the-law-that-protects-people-from-toxic-chemicals/
The chemical lobby is trying to weaken the law that protects people from toxic chemicals
Toxic chemicals and pollutants are contributing to a rise in chronic disease including cancer, Parkinson’s, diabetes, heart disease, autism, and infertility. Yet, the chemical lobby is trying to rewrite the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the one law designed to protect people from harmful chemicals. If they are successful, it could result in significantly higher … Continue reading The chemical lobby is trying to weaken the law that protects people from toxic chemicals
prheucsf.blog
January 22, 2026 at 12:01 AM
If the chemical lobby gets its way, people will be exposed to a lot more harmful chemicals and more people will get sick and die.
https://prheucsf.blog/2026/01/21/the-chemical-lobby-is-trying-to-weaken-the-law-that-protects-people-from-toxic-chemicals/
https://prheucsf.blog/2026/01/21/the-chemical-lobby-is-trying-to-weaken-the-law-that-protects-people-from-toxic-chemicals/
Sunsets and motorcycles
January 19, 2026 at 2:18 AM
Sunsets and motorcycles
Reposted by Dimitri Abrahamsson
Scientists were frustrated by a piece in the Guardian earlier this week that seemed to call into question the science on microplastics in the body.
I wrote about why researchers are certain microplastics are in the human body -- and what we still don't know:
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
I wrote about why researchers are certain microplastics are in the human body -- and what we still don't know:
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
A scientist questioned new microplastics findings. Then other researchers fired back.
A prominent scientist criticized microplastics research methods. Others are defending the work.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 17, 2026 at 3:20 PM
Scientists were frustrated by a piece in the Guardian earlier this week that seemed to call into question the science on microplastics in the body.
I wrote about why researchers are certain microplastics are in the human body -- and what we still don't know:
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
I wrote about why researchers are certain microplastics are in the human body -- and what we still don't know:
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
All of these can be true at the same time:
- The high-profile study likely has some critical limitations.
- The current analytical instruments and methods are not sensitive enough.
- The Dow Chemicals scientist in the article has a substantial conflict of interest that was not acknowledged.
- The high-profile study likely has some critical limitations.
- The current analytical instruments and methods are not sensitive enough.
- The Dow Chemicals scientist in the article has a substantial conflict of interest that was not acknowledged.
‘A bombshell’: doubt cast on discoveries of #microplastics throughout human body, from brain to blood, arteries to testes
Exclusive: Some scientists say many detections are most likely error, with one high-profile study called a ‘joke’
Story by me
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Exclusive: Some scientists say many detections are most likely error, with one high-profile study called a ‘joke’
Story by me
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘A bombshell’: doubt cast on discovery of microplastics throughout human body
Exclusive: Some scientists say many detections are most likely error, with one high-profile study called a ‘joke’
www.theguardian.com
January 14, 2026 at 10:20 PM
All of these can be true at the same time:
- The high-profile study likely has some critical limitations.
- The current analytical instruments and methods are not sensitive enough.
- The Dow Chemicals scientist in the article has a substantial conflict of interest that was not acknowledged.
- The high-profile study likely has some critical limitations.
- The current analytical instruments and methods are not sensitive enough.
- The Dow Chemicals scientist in the article has a substantial conflict of interest that was not acknowledged.
And then he said: "How are we going to fix the reproducibility crisis in science if we only publish novel findings?"
January 13, 2026 at 10:30 PM
And then he said: "How are we going to fix the reproducibility crisis in science if we only publish novel findings?"
Reposted by Dimitri Abrahamsson
Bisphenols, pesticides, phthalates, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) chemicals in the global food system are linked to a host of health problems. cen.acs.org/food/food-in... #chemsky 🧪
Chemicals in food system cause nearly $3 trillion in annual damage: Report
Trillions are spent on the environmental and health impacts, such as treating diseases linked to certain chemicals and removing them from the water supply
cen.acs.org
December 26, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Bisphenols, pesticides, phthalates, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) chemicals in the global food system are linked to a host of health problems. cen.acs.org/food/food-in... #chemsky 🧪
If the Trump administration understands the dangers of poisoning the public with fentanyl, then they must also understand the dangers of poisoning people with toxic chemicals. This type of logic cuts both ways.
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
DESIGNATING FENTANYL AS A WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose and
www.whitehouse.gov
December 16, 2025 at 9:22 PM
If the Trump administration understands the dangers of poisoning the public with fentanyl, then they must also understand the dangers of poisoning people with toxic chemicals. This type of logic cuts both ways.
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Reposted by Dimitri Abrahamsson
You can't make America healthy if you weaken rules designed to protect people from toxic chemicals and pollution.
EPA needs to stop working for polluters and start protecting health.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/climate/maha-moms-epa-lee-zeldin.html
EPA needs to stop working for polluters and start protecting health.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/climate/maha-moms-epa-lee-zeldin.html
MAHA Moms Are Angry at the E.P.A. Lee Zeldin Is Trying to Win Them Back.
A split is emerging within Trump’s base as health activists accuse Mr. Zeldin of leading the agency to prioritize chemical industry interests over public health.
www.nytimes.com
December 15, 2025 at 5:35 PM
You can't make America healthy if you weaken rules designed to protect people from toxic chemicals and pollution.
EPA needs to stop working for polluters and start protecting health.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/climate/maha-moms-epa-lee-zeldin.html
EPA needs to stop working for polluters and start protecting health.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/climate/maha-moms-epa-lee-zeldin.html
Happy Hanukkah!
December 15, 2025 at 3:32 AM
Happy Hanukkah!
Reposted by Dimitri Abrahamsson
Draft legislation is circulating in Congress right now that weakens the Toxic Substances Control Act. It's what the chemical lobby has spent millions of dollars trying to achieve - and if they get what they want, more people will be exposed to more harmful chemicals and more will get sick.
December 9, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Draft legislation is circulating in Congress right now that weakens the Toxic Substances Control Act. It's what the chemical lobby has spent millions of dollars trying to achieve - and if they get what they want, more people will be exposed to more harmful chemicals and more will get sick.
Reposted by Dimitri Abrahamsson
webinar Thurs. Dec. 11:
Corporate influence on science in a shifting political landscape
www.healthandenvironment.org/che-webinars...
Corporate influence on science in a shifting political landscape
www.healthandenvironment.org/che-webinars...
Corporate influence on science in a shifting political landscape
Extensive empirical research demonstrates that financial conflicts of interest (study sponsorship and study authors with a financial conflict of interest from industries that have a stake in the...
www.healthandenvironment.org
December 5, 2025 at 5:56 PM
webinar Thurs. Dec. 11:
Corporate influence on science in a shifting political landscape
www.healthandenvironment.org/che-webinars...
Corporate influence on science in a shifting political landscape
www.healthandenvironment.org/che-webinars...
Reposted by Dimitri Abrahamsson
San Francisco is taking on ultra-processed food companies for "using deceptive marketing techniques to target children ... to consume their products while knowing that overconsumption of the foods could lead to poor health outcomes..." #ultraprocessedfood
abc7news.com/post/san-fra...
abc7news.com/post/san-fra...
San Francisco files 1st-of-its-kind lawsuit against largest ultraprocessed food manufacturers
Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, General Mills, Kellogg, and Kraft Heinz are some of the 10 major corporations being sued by San Francisco, which is arguing they unfairly marketed ultraprocessed foods and products...
abc7news.com
December 4, 2025 at 9:06 PM
San Francisco is taking on ultra-processed food companies for "using deceptive marketing techniques to target children ... to consume their products while knowing that overconsumption of the foods could lead to poor health outcomes..." #ultraprocessedfood
abc7news.com/post/san-fra...
abc7news.com/post/san-fra...
Reposted by Dimitri Abrahamsson
Objective truths are still out there. It’s just harder than ever to know what they look like.
What’s Up With That?
[StarTalk video: 15min]
www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4I_...
What’s Up With That?
[StarTalk video: 15min]
www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4I_...
How to Tell What’s Real Online
YouTube video by StarTalk
www.youtube.com
December 4, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Objective truths are still out there. It’s just harder than ever to know what they look like.
What’s Up With That?
[StarTalk video: 15min]
www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4I_...
What’s Up With That?
[StarTalk video: 15min]
www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4I_...
Reposted by Dimitri Abrahamsson
"This is what corporate capture looks like." - Dimitri Abrahamsson
EPA is supposed to protect people from toxic chemicals like D4, not give them a pass.
EPA is supposed to protect people from toxic chemicals like D4, not give them a pass.
At EPA’s D4 meeting today:
- Most reviewers industry affiliated
- Most EPA scientists in sync with industry
- EU, UK, Canada: “D4 very persistent and very bioaccumulatative”
- EPA: “maybe persistent but not bioaccumulative”
This is what corporate capture looks like
www.youtube.com/live/eTZ9rjV...
- Most reviewers industry affiliated
- Most EPA scientists in sync with industry
- EU, UK, Canada: “D4 very persistent and very bioaccumulatative”
- EPA: “maybe persistent but not bioaccumulative”
This is what corporate capture looks like
www.youtube.com/live/eTZ9rjV...
Day 1 12/02 - Peer Review of the Draft Risk Evaluation for Octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4)
YouTube video by uvideoonline
www.youtube.com
December 3, 2025 at 7:06 PM
"This is what corporate capture looks like." - Dimitri Abrahamsson
EPA is supposed to protect people from toxic chemicals like D4, not give them a pass.
EPA is supposed to protect people from toxic chemicals like D4, not give them a pass.
At EPA’s D4 meeting today:
- Most reviewers industry affiliated
- Most EPA scientists in sync with industry
- EU, UK, Canada: “D4 very persistent and very bioaccumulatative”
- EPA: “maybe persistent but not bioaccumulative”
This is what corporate capture looks like
www.youtube.com/live/eTZ9rjV...
- Most reviewers industry affiliated
- Most EPA scientists in sync with industry
- EU, UK, Canada: “D4 very persistent and very bioaccumulatative”
- EPA: “maybe persistent but not bioaccumulative”
This is what corporate capture looks like
www.youtube.com/live/eTZ9rjV...
Day 1 12/02 - Peer Review of the Draft Risk Evaluation for Octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4)
YouTube video by uvideoonline
www.youtube.com
December 3, 2025 at 2:54 AM
At EPA’s D4 meeting today:
- Most reviewers industry affiliated
- Most EPA scientists in sync with industry
- EU, UK, Canada: “D4 very persistent and very bioaccumulatative”
- EPA: “maybe persistent but not bioaccumulative”
This is what corporate capture looks like
www.youtube.com/live/eTZ9rjV...
- Most reviewers industry affiliated
- Most EPA scientists in sync with industry
- EU, UK, Canada: “D4 very persistent and very bioaccumulatative”
- EPA: “maybe persistent but not bioaccumulative”
This is what corporate capture looks like
www.youtube.com/live/eTZ9rjV...
Never forget.
What terrorism did.
Never forget.
Those who perished.
Those who ran towards danger to help.
What terrorism did.
Never forget.
Those who perished.
Those who ran towards danger to help.
September 11, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Never forget.
What terrorism did.
Never forget.
Those who perished.
Those who ran towards danger to help.
What terrorism did.
Never forget.
Those who perished.
Those who ran towards danger to help.
I'm excited to share our new scientific adventure with Benny Chefetz, Evyatar Ben Mordechay, and Moshe Shenker to study the metabolism of pharmaceuticals in plants and humans. We’re grateful to BSF for their support and excited to deepen the collaboration between UCSF and HUJI through this research.
August 10, 2025 at 6:13 AM
I'm excited to share our new scientific adventure with Benny Chefetz, Evyatar Ben Mordechay, and Moshe Shenker to study the metabolism of pharmaceuticals in plants and humans. We’re grateful to BSF for their support and excited to deepen the collaboration between UCSF and HUJI through this research.
We thank the Reviewers for their helpful suggestions
June 13, 2025 at 4:19 AM
We thank the Reviewers for their helpful suggestions
Reposted by Dimitri Abrahamsson
👇My interview in @newscientist.com on how corporations' control your health - and what we can do about it.
Plus, I have weird blue hair in the illustration, so it is worth checking out just to see that.
www.newscientist.com/article/2481...
Plus, I have weird blue hair in the illustration, so it is worth checking out just to see that.
www.newscientist.com/article/2481...
Do corporations actually have more control over your health than you?
From the food on supermarket shelves to the air we breathe, large companies exert a greater impact on our health than we might realise, argues health scientist Tracey Woodruff
www.newscientist.com
June 9, 2025 at 4:26 PM
👇My interview in @newscientist.com on how corporations' control your health - and what we can do about it.
Plus, I have weird blue hair in the illustration, so it is worth checking out just to see that.
www.newscientist.com/article/2481...
Plus, I have weird blue hair in the illustration, so it is worth checking out just to see that.
www.newscientist.com/article/2481...
Reposted by Dimitri Abrahamsson
"You can’t protect children from harmful chemicals while gutting EPA, cutting funding to NIEHS, and rolling back or eliminating environmental rules that protect people from toxic exposures." @traceywoodruff.bsky.social
Statement on Make America Healthy Again Commission report
Dr. Tracey J. Woodruff, PhD, professor and director of the Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment and the Center to End Corporate Harm at UCSF issued the following statement upon release o...
prheucsf.blog
May 23, 2025 at 5:20 PM
"You can’t protect children from harmful chemicals while gutting EPA, cutting funding to NIEHS, and rolling back or eliminating environmental rules that protect people from toxic exposures." @traceywoodruff.bsky.social
Reposted by Dimitri Abrahamsson
Now we know that if a study is funded by the meat industry, it is 4 times more likely to conclude that red meat has positive or benign effects on cardiovascular disease risk. NIH should fund nutrition scientists so they can stop working for the food industry. ajcn.nutrition.org/article/S000...
Industry study sponsorship and conflicts of interest on the effect of unprocessed red meat on cardiovascular disease risk: a systematic review of clinical trials
Experimental research on the link between unprocessed red meat and cardiovascular
disease risk is inconsistent and may differ according to the financial interests of
red meat industry sponsors.
ajcn.nutrition.org
May 21, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Now we know that if a study is funded by the meat industry, it is 4 times more likely to conclude that red meat has positive or benign effects on cardiovascular disease risk. NIH should fund nutrition scientists so they can stop working for the food industry. ajcn.nutrition.org/article/S000...
Reposted by Dimitri Abrahamsson
"Eliminating the science will not make the harms go away." @traceywoodruff.bsky.social @epw.senate.gov
May 21, 2025 at 7:48 PM
"Eliminating the science will not make the harms go away." @traceywoodruff.bsky.social @epw.senate.gov
Excellent speech by @traceywoodruff.bsky.social If the administration is serious about making America healthy they need to fund environmental research. It is science fiction to think that you can cut 55% of EPA’s budget and expect people’s health to improve.
www.youtube.com/live/3l-bOsI...
www.youtube.com/live/3l-bOsI...
Toxic Priorities: How Trump’s EPA Puts Polluters Over People
YouTube video by Senate Environment & Public Works Committee
www.youtube.com
May 21, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Excellent speech by @traceywoodruff.bsky.social If the administration is serious about making America healthy they need to fund environmental research. It is science fiction to think that you can cut 55% of EPA’s budget and expect people’s health to improve.
www.youtube.com/live/3l-bOsI...
www.youtube.com/live/3l-bOsI...
Reposted by Dimitri Abrahamsson
Our latest manuscript in Environmental Science & Technology is now available, where we detail the implementation of a #nontarget method to help identify novel candidate organic tracers that may help improve estimates of children's dust ingestion rates.
pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....
pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....
May 20, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Our latest manuscript in Environmental Science & Technology is now available, where we detail the implementation of a #nontarget method to help identify novel candidate organic tracers that may help improve estimates of children's dust ingestion rates.
pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....
pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....