The U.S. Right to Know investigations uncover corporate wrongdoing and government failures that threaten the health of people around the world.
Since 2015, we have obtained and reported on hundreds of thousands of pages of documents that shine light on how corporations and government agencies mislead the public. We share these documents free of charge – and donate many to the UCSF Chemical Industry and Food Industry Documents Libraries. We work with public health academics and journalists around the world to tell these stories.
Our reporters have broken many news stories about the origins of Covid-19. And we report on the many ways food and pesticide companies manipulate science and mislead the public to keep harmful products on the market. Our executive director, Gary Ruskin, has co-authored 15 academic studies in public health and medical journals, reporting how ultra-processed food companies influence reporters, regulators, policy makers and health organizations. Over one million people have read our science fact sheets on chemicals of concern. Our findings drive global news coverage about issues of critical importance to our health.
News coverage
New York Times: Food Industry Influence Could Cloud the U.S. Dietary Guidelines. By Alice Callahan (10.4.23)
New York Times: The Government Must Say What It Knows About Covid’s Origins. By Zeynep Tufekci (6.21.23)
New York Times: A Shadowy Industry Group Shapes Food Policy Around the World. By Andrew Jacobs (9.16.19)
New York Times: Traces of Controversial Herbicide Are Found in Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. By Stephanie Strom (7.25.17)
New York Times: New C.D.C. Chief Saw Coca-Cola as Ally in Obesity Fight. By Sheila Kaplan (7.22.17)
New York Times: Scientists, Give Up Your Emails. By Paul Thacker (1.9.16)
New York Times: Food Industry Enlisted Academics in G.M.O. Lobbying War, Emails Show. By Eric Lipton (9.5.15)
Washington Post: In Wuhan, doctors knew the truth. They were told to keep quiet. (8.22.23)
Washington Post: China’s struggles with lab safety carry danger of another pandemic. By Joby Warrick and David WIllman (4.12.23)
Washington Post: Group shaping nutrition policy earned millions from junk food makers. By Anahad O’Connor (10.24.22)
Washington Post: Coca-Cola internal documents reveal efforts to sell to teens, despite obesity crisis. By Laura Reiley (12.18.19)
Washington Post: Coca-Cola emails reveal how soda industry tries to influence health officials. By Paige Winfield Cunningham (1.29.19)
Wall Street Journal: Where Did Covid Come From? By Nicholas Wade (2.28.24).
Wall Street Journal: How Easily Can a Virus Escape From a Lab? By Alina Chan and Matt Ridley (11.11.21)
Wall Street Journal: Who Are the Covid Investigators? (2.15.21)
USA Today: ‘I remember it very well’: Dr. Fauci describes a secret 2020 meeting to talk about COVID origins. By Alison Young (6.17.21)
Journal of Medical Ethics: Negligence by experts in the early response to COVID-19. By Hideki Kakeya (1.24.23)
Globalization and Health: Corporate interest groups and their implications for global food governance: mapping and analysing the global corporate influence network of the transnational ultra-processed food industry. By Scott Slater, Mark Lawrence, Benjamin Wood, Paulo Serodio & Phillip Baker (2.22.24).
BMJ: US dietary committee is plagued with “high risk conflicts of interest,” report finds. By Elisabeth Mahase (10.6.23)
BMJ: Covid-19: New WHO group to look into pandemic origins is dogged by alleged conflicts of interest. By Paul Thacker (10.22.21)
BMJ: Lancet investigation into origin of pandemic shuts down over bias risk. By Paul Thacker (10.1.21)
BMJ: The covid-19 lab leak hypothesis: did the media fall victim to a misinformation campaign? By Paul Thacker (7.8.21)
BMJ: Seven days in medicine: 2-8 December 2020 (12.10.20)
BMJ: Coca-Cola sought to shift blame for obesity by funding public health conferences, study reports. By Shaun Griffin (12.3.20)
BMJ: Coca-Cola’s work with academics was a “low point in history of public health.” By Shaun Griffin (8.3.20)
BMJ: Food and drink industry sought to influence scientists and academics, emails show. By Gareth Iacobucci (5.22.20)
BMJ: Coca-Cola marketing to children is “serious public health concern,” researchers warn. By Elisabeth Mahase (12.18.19)
BMJ: International Life Sciences Institute is Advocate for Food and Drink Industry, Say Researchers (6.4.19)
BMJ: Coca-Cola Contracts Could Allow it to “Quash” Unfavourable Research. By Elisabeth Mahase (5.8.19)
BMJ: Coca-Cola and obesity: study shows efforts to influence US Centers for Disease Control. By Gareth Iocabucci (1.30.19)
BMJ: US public health agency sued over failure to release emails from Coca-Cola. By Martha Rosenberg (5.28.18)
BMJ: Coca-Cola’s Influence on Medical and Science Journalists. By Paul Thacker (4.5.17)
BMJ: Conflicts of interest compromise US public health agency’s mission, say scientists. By Jeanne Lenzer (10.24.16)
Le Monde: Comment Coca-Cola a bafoué ses promesses de transparence dans les contrats de recherche. By Stéphane Horel (5.8.19)
Le Monde: Monsanto Papers series. By Stéphane Foucart and Stéphane Horel (11.20.17)
Vanity Fair: The Lab-Leak Theory: Inside the Fight to Uncover COVID-19’s Origins. By Katherine Eban (6.3.21)
New Yorker: The Mysterious Case of the COVID-19 Lab-Leak Theory. By Carolyn Kormann (10.12.21)
Science: Prophet in Purgatory: EcoHealth Alliance’s Peter Daszak is fighting accusations that his pandemic prevention work helped spark COVID-19. By Jon Cohen (11.17.21)
Lancet Global Health: The public health playbook: ideas for challenging the corporate playbook. By Jennifer Lacy-Nichols, Robert Marten, Eric Crosbie and Rob Moodie (5.24.22)
BBC Panorama: Ultra-Processed Foods: A Recipe for Ill Health? (6.5.23)
Guardian: US nutrition panel’s ties to top food giants revealed in new report. By Tom Perkins (10.6.23)
Guardian: Revealed: WHO aspartame safety panel linked to alleged Coca-Cola front group. By Tom Perkins (8.17.23)
Guardian: Revealed: group shaping US nutrition receives millions from big food industry. By Tom Perkins (12.9.22)
Guardian: The theory that SARS-CoV-2 may have originated in a lab was considered a debunked conspiracy theory, the British Medical Journal reports, but some experts are revisiting it amid calls for a new, more thorough investigation (7.8.21)
Guardian: Before you read another health study, check who’s funding the research. By Alison Moodie (12.12.16)
Guardian: Revealed: how Monsanto’s ‘intelligence center’ targeted journalists and activists. By Sam Levin (8.8.19)
Guardian: Science Institute That Advised EU and UN ‘Actually Industry Lobby Group’ By Arthur Neslen (6.22.19)
Guardian: UN/WHO Panel in Conflict of Interest Row over Glyphosate Cancer Risk. By Arthur Neslen (5.17.16)
Associated Press: Reports: Limit food industry sway on public health matters. By Candice Choi (1.29.19)
Sky News Australia: “Gain-of-function’ research revealed in Dr. Anthony Fauci’s emails. By Ryan King (9.24.23)
Sky News Australia: Gain of function research in Wuhan revealed in Dr. Anthony Fauci’s emails. By Sharri Markson (7.25.23)
Sky News Australia: ‘Several big developments’ in COVID-19 origins investigation. By Sharri Markson (10.31.21)
Sky News Australia: US National Institute of Health ‘fighting tooth and nail’ to keep origins of COVID-19 secret (8.8.21)
Sky News Australia: WHO’s COVID failure another example of a ‘global institution crisis.’ By Sharri Markson (2.14.21)
Sky News Australia: Media ‘sided with Chinese Government’ in attempts to shutdown COVID-19-origin inquiry. By Sharri Markson (11.22.20)
Sky News Australia: Released emails reveal ‘no truth or transparency’ in letter regarding origin of COVID-19. By Sharri Markson (11.22.20)
The Intercept: Faces of Israeli and American “War Criminals” on New Deck of Playing Cards. By Ryan Grim (1.25.24)
The Intercept: The Virus Hunters. By Sharon Lerner (12.28.21)
The Intercept: NIH Bat Coronavirus Grant Report Was Submitted More Than Two Years Late. By Mara Hvistendahl and Sharon Lerner (10.2.21)
The Intercept: Leaked Grant Proposal Details High-Risk Coronavirus Research. By Sharon Lerner and Maia Hibbett (9.23.21)
The Intercept: New Details Emerge About Coronavirus Research at Chinese Lab. By Sharon Lerner and Mara Hvistendahl (6.6.21)
The Intercept: The Pesticide Industry Playbook for Poisoning the Earth. By Lee Fang (1.18.20)
The Intercept: Trump’s New CDC Chief Championed Partnership with Coca-Cola to Solve Childhood Obesity. By Lee Fang (5.12.16)
Daily Mail: How American and Chinese scientists sought to create a virus in 2018 that was almost an EXACT match with Covid. By Alexa Lardieri (1.19.24)
Daily Mail: US scientists held secret talks with Covid ‘Batwoman’ amid drive to make coronaviruses more deadly… just before pandemic. By Glen Owen (1.6.24)
Daily Mail: Is this the smoking gun for the Covid lab leak? Blueprint for creating a ‘SARS-CoV’ virus with an altered spike protein in Wuhan was published in 2018, bombshell new records show. By Alex Lardieri (12.19.23)
Daily Mail: Revealed: America’s premier nutrition advisory group ‘received $4m from country’s biggest junk food makers – including Hershey’s, Pepsi and Nestlé.’ By Caitlin Tilley (12.9.22)
Daily Mail: So what are they hiding? Government is condemned for refusing to release details of key email conversations between leading scientists over the origins of Covid-19. By Ian Birrell (10.2.21)
Daily Mail: Will we ever learn the truth about China and the pandemic? By Ian Birrell (12.19.20)
Daily Mail: Coca-Cola ‘paid scientists to downplay how sugary beverages fueled the obesity crisis between 2013-2015,’ medical journal study finds. By Mary Kekatos (8.3.20)
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: How COVID-19’s origins were obscured. By the East and the West, by Nicholas Wade (8.17.21)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: WHO says aspartame possibly causes cancer; industry and FDA say no way. By Michael Kanell (7.13.23)
Houston Chronicle: Prominent Wuhan lab can ask UTMB to destroy ‘secret files’ and other records, memo states. By Julian Gill (4.21.22)
Boston Globe: Amid lawsuits, Bayer mounts campaign to defend weedkiller. By Jonathan Saltzman (12.10.19)
Boston Globe: Harvard Professor Failed to Disclose Monsanto Connection in Paper Touting GMOs. By Laura Krantz (10.1.15)
St. Louis Post Dispatch: Corporate money keeps university ag schools ‘relevant,’ and makes them targets of donor criticism. By Johnathan Hettinger, Sky Chadde, Dana Cronin, Katie Peikes and Seth Bodine (11.15.21)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: How a poor school groundskeeper took on Monsanto and won. By Ronald Klose (2.26.21)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Roundup lawsuits shed light on Monsanto’s internal — and controversial — PR strategies. By Bryce Gray (9.2.19)
San Diego Union Tribune: UCSD hires Coke-funded health researcher. By Morgan Cook (9.29.16)
Guardian: Only two out of 11 herbicide studies given to EU regulators deemed ‘reliable.’ By Carey Gillam (11.26.21)
Guardian: EPA unveils new strategy to address US contamination of ‘forever’ chemicals. By Carey Gillam (10.18.21)
Guardian: Revealed: more than 120,000 US sites feared to handle harmful PFAS ‘forever’ chemicals. By Carey Gillam and Alex Chang (10.17.21)
Guardian: ‘The harm to children is irreparable’: Ruth Etzel speaks out ahead of EPA whistleblower hearing. By Carey Gillam (9.12.21)
Guardian: Corporate studies asserting herbicide safety show many flaws, new analysis finds. By Carey Gillam (7.2.21)
Guardian: ‘A sip can kill’: did a chemical company misrepresent data to avoid making a safer product? By Carey Gillam (3.24.21)
Guardian: Revealed: Monsanto owner and US officials pressured Mexico to drop glyphosate ban. By Carey Gillam (2.16.21)
Guardian: ‘There’s a red flag here’: how an ethanol plant is dangerously polluting a US village. By Carey Gillam (1.10.21)
Guardian: Court overturns EPA approval of popular herbicide made by Monsanto. By Carey Gillam (6.4.20)
Guardian: EPA faces court over backing of Monsanto’s controversial crop system. By Carey Gillam (4.20.20)
Guardian: Revealed: Monsanto predicted crop system would damage US farms. By Carey Gillam (3.30.20)
Guardian: Science shouldn’t be for sale – we need reform to industry-funded studies to keep people safe. By Carey Gillam (2.18.20)
Guardian: Formulations of glyphosate-based weedkillers are toxic, tests show. By Carey Gillam (1.23.20)
Guardian: Why a corporate lawyer is sounding the alarm about these common chemicals. By Carey Gillam (12.27.19)
Guardian: Revealed: Bayer AG discussed plans to give not-for-profit funding for influence. By Carey Gillam (11.21.19)
Guardian: Thailand wants to ban these three pesticides. The US government says no. By Carey Gillam (11.10.19)
Guardian: The Trump administration is sidelining science – and it puts us in danger. By Carey Gillam (10.1.19)
Guardian: How Monsanto Manipulates Journalists and Academics. By Carey Gillam (6.2.19)
Guardian: The EPA Is Meant to Protect Us. The Monsanto Trials Suggest It Isn’t Doing That. By Nathan Donley and Carey Gillam (5.7.19)
Guardian: Who Is Paying for Monsanto’s Crimes? We Are. By Carey Gillam (3.30.19)
Guardian: Weedkiller ‘Raises Risk of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma by 41%’. By Carey Gillam (2.14.19)
Guardian: ‘The World Is Against Them’: New Era of Cancer Lawsuits Threaten Monsanto. By Carey Gillam (10.8.18)
Guardian: One Man’s Suffering Exposed Monsanto’s Secrets to the World. By Carey Gillam (8.11.18)
Guardian: Landmark Lawsuit Claims Monsanto Hid Cancer Danger of Weedkiller for Decades. By Carey Gillam (5.22.18)
Guardian: Weedkiller Products More Toxic Than Their Active Ingredients. By Carey Gillam (5.8.18)
Guardian: Weedkiller Found in Granola and Crackers, Internal FDA Emails Show. By Carey Gillam (4.30.18)
Guardian: Monsanto says its pesticides are safe. Now, a court wants to see the proof. By Carey Gillam (3.5.18)
STAT: Study pulls back curtain on contracts between Coca-Cola and the researchers it funds. By Andrew Joseph (5.7.19)
STAT: Disney, Fearing a Scandal, Tries to Press Journal to Withdraw Research Paper. By Sheila Kaplan (4.8.16)
Der Spiegel: Feilschen um den Wert eines Lebens. By Ines Zöttl (1.22.20)
TIME: I Won a Historic Lawsuit, But May Not Live to See the Money. By Carey Gillam (11.21.18)
TIME: Johnson & Johnson Is Just The Tip of The Toxic Iceberg. By Stacy Malkan (3.2.16)
TIME: FDA to Start Testing for Chemicals in Food. By Carey Gillam (2.17.16)
Newsweek: The Public’s Business Ought to be Public, By Jason Foster (4.13.22)
Minneapolis Star Tribune: Cargill, DSM ramp up production of new sugar substitute. By Kristen Leigh Painter (11.15.19)
San Francisco Chronicle: Major Brands Reverse Course on Genetically Modified Food Labels. By Tara Duggan (3.26.16)
Freedom of the Press Foundation: How corporations suppress disclosure of public records about themselves. By Camille Fassett (2.27.18)
Unherd: How Edinburgh University stifled my investigation. By Ian Birrell (1.19.24).
Unherd: Why did Peter Daszak change his mind? By Ian Birrell (4.11.23)
Unherd: How China made Covid worse. By Ian Birrell (12.9.21)
Unherd: Science journals have been corrupted by China. By Ian Birrell (8.12.21)
New York Post: Scientist claims ‘smoking gun’ evidence COVID-19 intentionally created by researchers in Chinese lab. By Ronny Reyes (2.29.24).
New York Post: GOP pols demand Pentagon probe into more than $50M spent on Chinese pandemic research labs. By Josh Christensen (1.25.24)
New York Post: Newly released documents on 2018 coronavirus research proposal reveal scientists’ safety concerns over Chinese lab. By Allie Griffin (12.19.23)
New York Post: Toxic weed killer found in most people’s urine, shocking study finds. By Erin Keller (7.12.22)
New York Post: EcoHealth Alliance head Daszak leaves UN-backed COVID origins probe. By Samuel Chamberlain (6.22.22)
New York Post: Wuhan lab documents show Fauci ‘untruthful’ about gain-of-function research: critics. By Emily Crane (9.7.21)
New York Post: Who is Peter Daszak, the nonprofit exec who sent taxpayer money to Wuhan lab? By Bruce Golding (6.4.21)
New York Post: ‘Doctor who denied COVID-19 was leaked from a lab has this major bias.’ By Steven W. Mosher (1.16.20)
Nature Biotechnology: Standing Up for Transparency. By Stacy Malkan (1.16)
WBEZ: Why Didn’t an Illinois Professor Have to Disclose GMO Funding? By Monica Eng (3.15.16)
CBC: U of S Defends Prof’s Monsanto Ties, But Some Faculty Disagree. By Jason Warick (5.10.17)
CBC: University of Saskatchewan Prof Under Fire for Monsanto Ties. By Jason Warick (5.7.17)
Global News: Documents Reveal Canadian Teenager Target of GMO Lobby. By Allison Vuchnich (12.21.15)
ABC Australia: The Monsanto Papers broadcast (10.11.18)
ABC Australia: Leaked Email Exchange Reveals Food Industry Tactics. By Lexi Metherell (9.19.17)
National Review: U.S., Chinese Researchers Wanted to Engineer Virus Similar to Covid One Year before Pandemic Outbreak, Internal Docs Show. By Haley Strack (1.23.24)
National Review: Why China Was Never Held Accountable for the Covid-19 Lab Leak. By Jim Geraghty (2.27.24).
National Review: Fauci Knew NIH Funded Wuhan’s Gain-of-Function Research as Pandemic Began, Email Reveals. By David Zimmerman (9.5.23)
National Review: The U.S. Effectively Surrenders in the Argument about the Origins of COVID-19. By Jim Gerachty (10.27.21)
National Review: Internal Documents Further Contradict Fauci’s ‘Gain-of-Function’ Research Denials. By Caroline Downey (9.7.21)
South China Morning Post: WHO set to finalise Sago team for Covid-19 origins search after public comments. By Simone McCarthy (10.27.21)
Breaking Points TV: Case Closed: Docs Prove Wuhan Lab Leak (1.25.24)
Breaking Points TV: How Corporations Corrupted Nutrition Guidelines In The USA. By James Li (8.19.23)
Bloomberg: Emails Show How Food Industry Uses ‘Science’ to Push Soda. By Deena Shanker (9.13.17)
Bloomberg: How Monsanto Mobilized Academics to Pen Articles Supporting GMOs. By Jack Kaskey (10.2.15)
Le Parisien: New recommendations on aspartame: the dangerous connections of some experts with Coca and Pepsi. By Gaël Lombart (7.19.23)
Le Parisien: Aspartame, “possible carcinogen”: the industry has already launched its counter-attack. By Gaël Lombart (7.14.23)
Le Parisien: Covid-19 : un expert de l’OMS met en doute les informations américaines sur l’origine du virus. By Julie Cloris (2.10.21)
Daily Caller: American Researchers In Bed With Wuhan Lab Misled Pentagon About Civilization-Threatening Virus Research. By Dylan Housman (12.19.23)
Daily Caller: CCP ordered destruction of Early COVID samples, order shows. By Jack Moore (6.27.23)
Daily Caller: NYT Highlights Chinese COVID Censorship After Facilitating Chinese COVID Censorship. By Dylan Housman (4.25.23)
Daily Caller: University Asks Judge To Block Release Of Documents Related To Dangerous Coronavirus Research. By Dylan Housman (3.14.23)
Daily Caller: Fauci Met With Wuhan-Affiliated Researcher In Early Days Of Pandemic, Emails Show. By Dylan Housman (2.21.23)
Daily Caller: Fact Check: NIH official claims viruses studied at Chinese lab not genetically similar to SARS-CoV-2. By Elias Atienza (2.13.23)
Rising TV: Lab Leak ‘SMOKING GUN’? New Docs PROVE Scientists Proposed to Engineer Covid-Like Virus in Wuhan (1.23.24)
Rising TV: No Evidence Strong Enough to End Covid Origins Debate. (5.26.23)
Rising TV: Covid Hearing Highlights How Politics DELAYED Origin Investigations: Report (4.19.23)
Rising TV: NIH Director Discounts Lab Leak & Mainstream Media Runs With It. (2.14.23)
Democracy Now: Documents Reveal Monsanto Surveilled Journalists, Activists & Even Musician Neil Young (8.9.19)
Epoch Times: The Dubious Strategies of the Artificial Sweetener Companies. By Amy Denney (1.24.24)
Epoch Times: Chinese Scientist Visited Fauci’s Agency Years Before Pandemic Started: Documents. By Stephen Katte (1.8.24)
Epoch Times: Fauci Allies Misled US Military on Risky Coronavirus Research. By Zachary Stieber (12.19.23)
Epoch Times: Report Details Ties Between Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee and Food and Pharmaceutical Companies. By Sheramy Tsai (10.4.23)
Epoch Times: Fauci, Scientists With Ties to Chinese Laboratory Briefed Intelligence Officials on Origins of COVID-19: Documents. By Zachary Stieber (5.17.23)
Epoch Times: Fauci Testimony ‘Not Credible” in Light of Other Evidence: Lawyers. By Zachary Stieber (3.28.23)
Epoch Times: The Dam of Lies Surrounding COVID Lab Leak is Breaking. By Joseph Mercola (3.3.23)
Epoch Times: Can the Nutrition Industry Be Trusted? New Report Says ‘No’. By Emma Suttie (2.22.23)
Epoch Times: ‘We Need More Details’: Fauci Emailed Collins About Chinese Laboratory Before Secret Call. By Zachary Stieber (9.7.22)
Epoch Times: Wuhan Lab Allowed to Destroy ‘Secret Files’ Under Partnership With US National Lab, Agreement Shows. By Eva Fu (5.10.22)
Epoch Times: Memo Reveals State Department Assessed in Early 2020 That Lab Leak Was Most Likely Origin of COVID-19. By Jeff Carlson and Hans Mancke (4.6.22)
The Progressive: Flacking for GMOs: How the Biotech Industry Cultivates Positive Media — and Discourages Criticism. By Paul Thacker (7.21.17)
Environmental Health News: Coca cola war with public health science over obesity. By Gary Ruskin (4.3.18)
Environmental Health News: Essay: Monsanto’s ghostwriting and strong-arming threaten sound science — and society. By Sheldon Krimsky (6.26.18)
DeSmog: Investigation: How Pesticide Companies Are Marketing Themselves as a Solution to Climate Change. By Sharon Kelly and Frances Rankin (11.18.20)
Ralph Nader: Monsanto and its Promoters vs. Freedom of Information (10.2.15)
Rumble: Russell Brand interview with Stacy Malkan. (2.16.22)
Mother Jones: Aim for the Stomach. By Mark Schapiro (2.2.23)
Mother Jones: These Emails Show Monsanto Leaning on Professors to Fight the GMO PR War. By Tom Philpott (10.2.15)
Undark: Why are so few people investigating Covid’s origins? By Alina Chan (12.22.23)
Undark: Corporate-Spun Science Should Not Be Guiding Policy. By Carey Gillam (11.28.17)
Undark: A Curious Union: Clorox, Cleveland Clinic, and the CDC Foundation. By Michael Schulson (6.13.21)
