20 Facts About Michael Fumento

Michael Fumento is the son of Tobey and Rocco Fumento, the latter being a professor emeritus in English, film, and creative writing who has worked at the University of Illinois.

Michael Fumento embedded three times in Iraq and once in Afghanistan and observed combat operations of the Navy SEALs and the 101st Airborne Division.

Michael Fumento is best known for science and health issues, especially what he considers faux crises, including the 1987 "heterosexual AIDS explosion," swine flu and the alleged epidemic of runaway Toyotas.

Michael Fumento has been a nationally syndicated columnist for the Scripps Howard News Service, a legal writer for The Washington Times, a science correspondent for Reason magazine, an editorial writer for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, and the first national issues reporter for Investor's Business Daily.

Michael Fumento has appeared in newspapers including the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, Sunday Times of London, Sunday Telegraph of London, and the Jerusalem Post.

Michael Fumento has been outspoken in his support of adult stem cell research and critical of embryonic stem cell research and has criticized what he regards as a liberal and corporate bias in favor of the latter.

Michael Fumento argues that many reports of threats to society are based on bad science and misused statistics.

Michael Fumento has been highly critical of what he considers extreme alarmism over such diseases as SARS and the potential of a human avian flu pandemic.

Michael Fumento writes that naturally-occurring food chemicals are often as toxic as artificial compounds and that there is no scientific reason to view natural compounds as inherently safer.

Michael Fumento noted that the dosages in one Alar study were the equivalent of almost 30 thousand apples a day for life.

Michael Fumento has been a frequent critic of activist Erin Brockovich since her eponymous movie first appeared in 2000.

Michael Fumento has drawn criticism from liberal and veterans' activist groups for his views on Gulf War Syndrome and for his writings since 1987, which state that the threat of AIDS to the heterosexual population was greatly overstated.

Michael Fumento promotes a position of "skepticism" toward claims that manmade chemicals cause cancer in humans.

Michael Fumento has argued that the perception of infectious disease outbreaks becomes exaggerated or distorted by those who exploit them to serve various agendas.

Michael Fumento wrote dozens of subsequent pieces on the subject.

Michael Fumento challenged that orthodoxy for which he and even those who wrote about him were condemned and even threatened.

Michael Fumento discussed it in a 1988 New Republic cover story.

At issue were opinion columns Michael Fumento had written concerning the biotechnology firm Monsanto Company while he was a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank.

Michael Fumento acknowledged that he benefited from Monsanto's grant to Hudson, which was meant for his book on agribusiness, BioEvolution.

Michael Fumento wrote that of approximately 100 columns he had written, three mentioned Monsanto.