View source for Michael Fumento

{{Short description|American journalist (born 1960)}}
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{{Infobox writer
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| name             = Michael A. Fumento
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| occupation       = Author, analyst, journalist, attorney
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| notable_works    = ''The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS: How a Tragedy Has Been Distorted by the Media and Partisan Politics'' (1990), ''Science Under Siege: Balancing Technology and the Environment'' (1993), ''Polluted Science: The EPA's Campaign to Expand Clean Air Regulations'' (1997), ''The Fat of the Land: The Obesity Epidemic and How Overweight Americans Can Help Themselves'' (1997), ''BioEvolution: How Biotechnology Is Changing Our World'' (2003)
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'''Michael A. Fumento''' (born 1960) is an American author, analyst, attorney, and [[investigative journalist]] who currently resides in the Philippines.{{Third-party inline|date=July 2023|reason=needed for verification and [[WP:DUEWEIGHT]]}}

==Life and career==
Fumento grew up in [[Champaign, Illinois]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://fumento.com/fumento/dey2.html |title=Michael Fumento Taking on Tall Tales |publisher=Fumento.com |date=1994-08-06 |access-date=2012-11-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130327080547/http://fumento.com/fumento/dey2.html |archive-date=2013-03-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He 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]].<ref>{{google books|RWN2AAAAMAAJ&q}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RWN2AAAAMAAJ&q=Rocco+Fumento+1923+wife |title=Italian Americana |access-date=2012-11-26|year=1999 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.booksofexcellence.com/fumento.html |title=Author Rocco Fumento |publisher=Books of Excellence |date= |access-date=2012-11-26}}</ref>

Fumento's father is [[Italian Americans|Italian American]] and [[Catholic Church|Catholic]], and Fumento's mother is [[Judaism|Jewish]]. Fumento is Catholic.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://fumento.com/aids/pozaids.html |title=Michael Fumento: The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS - A Nine-Year Retrospective of Fear and (Mostly) Loathing |publisher=Fumento.com |access-date=2012-11-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120070918/http://fumento.com/aids/pozaids.html |archive-date=2013-01-20 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fumento.com/misc/nun.html |title=Bestselling author Michael Fumento reports: "Nunsense at Auschwitz." |publisher=Fumento.com |access-date=2012-11-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111208012103/http://www.fumento.com/misc/nun.html |archive-date=2011-12-08 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

A graduate of the [[University of Illinois College of Law]] and a member of the [[Pennsylvania Bar Association]], he has a [[bachelor's degree]] in political science from [[Fayetteville State University]], at [[Fort Bragg]], [[North Carolina]], which he earned while he served as a [[paratrooper]] in the [[US Army]]. He [[embedded journalist|embedded]] three times in Iraq and once in Afghanistan and observed combat operations of the [[Navy SEALs]] and the [[101st Airborne Division]].<ref name="fumento.com">{{cite web |url=http://fumento.com/fumento/ |title=Michael Fumento Biography |publisher=Fumento.com |access-date=2012-11-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105061454/http://fumento.com/fumento/ |archive-date=2012-11-05 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

His work comprises over 70 subject areas. [[Google Scholar]] has almost 1,200 citations of his work.<ref name="Google Scholar">{{cite web|url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=Fumento+-Rocco&btnG=Search&as_sdt=1%2C5&as_ylo=&as_vis=0 |title=Fumento -Rocco - Google Scholar |date= |access-date=2012-11-26}}</ref> ''[[Publishers Weekly]]'' stated that he has "knack for debunking popular beliefs and revealing the true state of things," and ''[[The New York Times Book Review]]'' stated, "His arguments, statistics and perceptions appear almost as irrefutable as they are controversial."<ref name="New York Times"/>{{cite news|last=Shaw |first=David |date= 7 January 1990|title=THE EPIDEMIC: DID THE PRESS CRY WOLF? |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/07/books/the-epidemic-did-the-press-cry-wolf.html}} 

''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' stated that in some of Fumento's work, "some important scientific issues are dismissed or glossed over" and that "there is a fine line between persuasion and persecution."<ref name="wilding98">{{cite journal |last1=Wilding |first1=John |title=A weighty problem |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |date=19 February 1998 |volume=391|issue=6669|page=759|doi=10.1038/35793|bibcode=1998Natur.391..759W|s2cid=5112409 |doi-access=free }}</ref> 

After he was fired from Scripps Howard News Service in 2006, he was described by ''[[Science (journal)|Science]]'' as "a vigorous defender of the pharmaceutical and biotech industries over the years".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lowe |first=Derek |date=January 22, 2006 |title=Full Disclosure |work=Science |url=https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/pipeline-757}}</ref>

He is best known for science and health issues, especially what he considers faux crises, including the 1987 "heterosexual AIDS explosion,"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://fumento.com/books/myth.html |title=Michael Fumento and The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS |publisher=Fumento.com |date=1993-12-13 |access-date=2012-11-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105002945/http://fumento.com/books/myth.html |archive-date=2012-11-05 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[swine flu]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://fumento.com/swineflu/ |title=Michael Fumento on the truth about swine flu |access-date=2010-10-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101029214036/http://fumento.com/swineflu/ |archive-date=2010-10-29 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the alleged epidemic of runaway Toyotas.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://fumento.com/toyota_acceleration/ |title=Michael Fumento takes on the Toyota sudden acceleration hysteria |publisher=Fumento.com |access-date=2012-11-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130327064710/http://fumento.com/toyota_acceleration/ |archive-date=2013-03-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{Third-party inline|date=July 2023|reason=needed for assessments and [[WP:PROPORTION]]}}

===Journalism===
Fumento has been a nationally [[syndicated columnist]] for the [[Scripps Howard News Service]] (before his firing in 2006),<ref name="Javers" /> a legal writer for ''[[The Washington Times]]'', a science correspondent for ''[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]'' magazine, an editorial writer for the ''[[Rocky Mountain News]]'' in Denver, and the first national issues reporter for ''[[Investor's Business Daily]]''. When he was embedded four times in Iraq and Afghanistan, his research and reporting from Ramadi was praised by General [[David Petraeus]]: "Great stuff with a great unit in a very tough neighborhood!"<ref name="fumento.com"/> Some of his combat video footage has aired on the [[History (U.S. TV channel)|History Channel]].<ref>[http://shop.history.com/band-of-bloggers-dvd/detail.php?p=70214]{{Dead link|date=August 2018|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>{{Third-party inline|date=July 2023|reason=needed for assessments and [[WP:PROPORTION]]}}

A finalist for the National Magazine Award, he has had articles appear in such magazines as ''Reader's Digest'', ''The Atlantic Monthly'', ''Forbes'', Forbes.com, ''USA Weekend'', ''The Weekly Standard'', ''National Review'', ''The New Republic'', ''The Washington Monthly'', ''Reason'', ''Policy Review'', ''The American Spectator'', ''Nature Medicine'', ''The Spectator'' (London), a3Umwelt (Austria), and ''The Bulletin'' (Australia). He 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''.<ref name="fumento.com"/>

His television appearances include Nightline; ABC World News; ABC News 20/20, numerous programs on CBS, NBC, CNN, and Fox; PBS; MacNeil-Lehrer; CNBC; the BBC; the Canadian Broadcasting Network; C-SPAN; the Christian Broadcasting Network; Donahue; This Week with David Brinkley, the History Channel, ESPN, and many others. Fumento has lectured throughout the world.<ref name="fumento.com"/>{{Third-party inline|date=July 2023|reason=needed for assessments and [[WP:PROPORTION]]}}

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.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

For ''Science Under Siege'', he received two awards, including the [[American Council on Science and Health]]'s Distinguished Science Journalist of 1993.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

==="Debunking" crises===
{{Third-party|section|date=July 2023}}
Fumento argues that many reports of threats to society are based on [[junk science|bad science]] and misused statistics. In addition to [[AIDS]], Fumento's writing on science has covered such topics as [[global warming]], [[ADHD]], [[obesity]], the health dangers of [[breast implants]], teen drug use, and [[agrarian utopianism]]. He has been highly critical of what he considers extreme [[alarmism]] over such diseases as [[SARS]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fumento.com/disease/nrosars.html |title=Michael Fumento: Hysteria, Thy Name is SARS<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2007-03-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070309003411/http://www.fumento.com/disease/nrosars.html |archive-date=2007-03-09 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the potential of a human [[avian flu]] pandemic.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fumento.com/disease/flu2006.html |title=Michael Fumento: The Chicken Littles Were Wrong |publisher=Fumento.com |access-date=2012-11-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130327114452/http://www.fumento.com/disease/flu2006.html |archive-date=2013-03-27 |url-status=dead}}</ref>{{Third-party inline|date=July 2023|reason=needed for assessments and [[WP:PROPORTION]]}}

A common theme is his claim that many liberal [[environmental groups]] have a hysterical response to most artificial chemicals. He 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. Environmental groups, he holds, willingly accept claims that manmade compounds cause cancer but gloss over the fact that the toxicity tests often involve quantities that are millions of times larger than what a human would ever ingest.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

Several articles deal with the agricultural chemical [[Alar]], banned as a [[carcinogen]] in the United States. Fumento noted that the dosages in one Alar study were the equivalent of almost 30 thousand apples a day for life.<ref>Michael Fumento, "[http://www.fumento.com/alar1.html The Politics of Cancer Testing] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051016213053/http://www.fumento.com/alar1.html |date=2005-10-16}}", ''[[The American Spectator]]'', August 1990.</ref> In his view, it is impossible to test megadoses of chemicals on mice or rats and to extrapolate the results to conclusions about small doses on humans. The statistical nature of these studies, often analyzed by non-statisticians, leaves them vulnerable to extrapolation error. Researchers remain divided on the utility of such tests and on the safety of Alar, in particular.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

He has been a frequent critic of activist [[Erin Brockovich]] since her eponymous movie first appeared in 2000.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fumento.com/erinwsj.html |title=Bestselling author and syndicated columnist Michael Fumento reports: "'Erin Brockovich,' Exposed."<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2007-03-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070416031457/http://www.fumento.com/erinwsj.html |archive-date=2007-04-16 |url-status=dead}}</ref>{{Third-party inline|date=July 2023|reason=needed for assessments and [[WP:PROPORTION]]}}

Fumento describes himself as a political conservative.<ref>Michael Fumento, "[http://www.fumento.com/weblog/archives/2005/07/conservatives_a.html Conservatives and Governments admonitions on Obesity]", Michael Fumento's weblog, July 15, 2005.</ref> He has drawn criticism from liberal and veterans' activist groups for his views on [[Gulf War Syndrome]] (his ''Reason'' article "Gulf Lore Syndrome"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fumento.com/biggulf.html |title=Michael Fumento: Gulf Lore Syndrome<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2007-03-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070303054137/http://www.fumento.com/biggulf.html |archive-date=2007-03-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref> was a National Magazine Award finalist in 1998<ref>[https://archive.today/20070824210500/http://archives.cjr.org/year/98/nma-1998.asp CJR – 1998 Pulitzer Prize Winners<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>) and for his writings since 1987,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fumento.com/comment.html |title=Michael Fumento: AIDS - Are Heterosexuals at Risk?<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2007-03-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070302200448/http://www.fumento.com/comment.html |archive-date=2007-03-02 |url-status=dead}}</ref> which state that the threat of AIDS to the heterosexual population was greatly overstated. He promotes a position of "[[skepticism]]" toward claims that manmade chemicals cause cancer in humans.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

===Heterosexual AIDS===
{{Third-party|section|date=July 2023}}{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?11271-1/the-myth-heterosexual-aids ''Booknotes'' interview with Fumento on ''The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS'', February 25, 1990], [[C-SPAN]]}}
Fumento has argued that the perception of [[infectious disease]] outbreaks becomes exaggerated or distorted by those who exploit them to serve various agendas. In November 1987, he published an article, "AIDS: Are Heterosexuals at Risk?"<ref>Michael Fumento, "[http://fumento.com/comment.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090901221503/http://www.fumento.com/comment.html|date=2009-09-01}}"</ref> in [[Commentary (magazine)|''Commentary'']] that in 1990 became the basis of a controversial book, ''The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS: How a Tragedy Has Been Distorted by the Media and Partisan Politics''.<ref>Michael Fumento, "[https://www.amazon.com/dp/0895267292 The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS: How a Tragedy Has Been Distorted by the Media and Partisan Politics]"</ref> He wrote dozens of subsequent pieces on the subject.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fumento.com/suaids.html |title=Michael Fumento confronts the issues regarding AIDS |publisher=Fumento.com |access-date=2012-11-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100124025838/http://www.fumento.com/suaids.html |archive-date=2010-01-24 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In ''Commentary'', he challenged the presumption of ''Life'' magazine, whose July 1985 cover declared in bold red letters, "Now No One Is Safe from AIDS."<ref>Life, July 1985, cover.</ref>{{Third-party inline|date=July 2023|reason=needed for assessments and [[WP:PROPORTION]]}}

By 1987, the theme had become common. A January ''[[U.S. News & World Report]]'' cover story declared, "The disease of them is suddenly the disease of us... finding fertile growth among heterosexuals."<ref>"[Kathleen McAuliffe et al., "AIDS: At the Dawn of Fear," ''U.S. News & World Report'', January 12, 1987, p. 60.]"</ref> A [[The New York Times|''New York Times'']] headline that month read: "AIDS May Dwarf the Plague,"<ref>The New York Times, "[https://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/30/us/aids-may-dwarf-the-plague.html].</ref> citing remarks of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, [[Otis R. Bowen]], that AIDS could be worse than the "[[Black Death]]," which is estimated to have killed 30 percent to 60 percent of Europe's population.{{#tag:ref|S. Barry and N. Gualde, "The Biggest Epidemics of History": (La plus grande épidémie de l'histoire" ''L'Histoire'' n° 310, (2006), pp. 45–6, say "between one-third and two-thirds"; R. Gottfried, "Black Death" in ''[[Dictionary of the Middle Ages]]'', vol. 2, (1983). pp. 257–67, says "between 25 and 45 percent".<ref>[[Black Death#cite note-barry-11]]</ref>}}<ref>"The Black Death" History.boisestate.edu. {{cite web|url=http://history.boisestate.edu/westciv/plague/15.shtml |title=The Black Death |access-date=2011-10-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207081157/http://history.boisestate.edu/westciv/plague/15.shtml |archive-date=2009-02-07 }}. Retrieved on 2008-11-03. [[Black Death#cite note-12]]</ref>{{#tag:ref|"Plague and Public Health in Renaissance Europe" University of Virginia. Archived from the original on 2008-02-12.<ref>[[Black Death#cite note-13]]</ref>}} [[Surgeon General of the United States|Surgeon General]] [[C. Everett Koop]] made remarks<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_9kPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=aY0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6609,7081824&dq=heterosexual+explosion+and+aids C. Everett Koop]</ref> giving rise to the term "heterosexual AIDS explosion." [[Oprah Winfrey]] told her audience, "Research studies now project that one in five—listen to me, hard to believe—one in five heterosexuals could be dead from AIDS at the end of the next three years."<ref>"Women Living with AIDS," ''Oprah Winfrey Show'', transcript of February 18, 1987, p. 2.</ref>{{Synthesis inline|date=July 2023|reason=articles do not mention Fumento}}

Fumento challenged that orthodoxy for which he and even those who wrote about him were condemned and even threatened.<ref>"Beat the press: death threats and bullying tactics follow AIDS journalists who contradict the conventional wisdom." [http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Beat+the+press%3a+death+threats+and+bullying+tactics+follow+AIDS...-a013563853]</ref><ref>Michael Fumento, "The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS:
A Nine-Year Retrospective of Fear and (Mostly) Loathing"
[http://www.fumento.com/pozaids.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090402072012/http://www.fumento.com/pozaids.html|date=2009-04-02}}</ref> He did so by interviewing and citing the work of epidemiologists, including the top [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]] (CDC) AIDS epidemiologist, Dr. [[Harold Jaffe (epidemiologist)|Harold Jaffe]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/r021008a.htm |title=CDC Media Relations: Press Release |publisher=Cdc.gov |date= |access-date=2012-11-26}}</ref> who told him, "Those who are suggesting that we are going to see an explosive spread of AIDS in the heterosexual population have to explain why this isn't happening."{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

Although he would be accused of claiming heterosexuals have no AIDS risk,<ref>[http://blogs.nature.com/news/blog/2006/08/aids_us_vs_them_the_return_of.html ”AIDS: Us vs. Them: The return of Michael Fumento”]</ref> the back cover of his AIDS book<ref>[http://www.fumento.com/img8/HeteroMythhardback.jpg Michael Fumento, “The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS”]</ref> stated, "The 'myth' of heterosexual AIDS consists of a series of myths, one of which is not that heterosexuals get AIDS. They certainly do get it.... " Rather, he argued that while white middle-class heterosexuals were the target of AIDS propaganda, "the profile of the typical victim of heterosexually transmitted AIDS is a lower-class black woman who is the regular sex partner of an IV drug user."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fumento.com/comment.html |title=Michael Fumento: AIDS - Are Heterosexuals at Risk? |website=www.fumento.com |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070302200448/http://www.fumento.com/comment.html |archive-date=2 March 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref>{{Third-party inline|date=July 2023|reason=needed for assessments and [[WP:PROPORTION]]}}

As of 2007, the CDC's "estimated numbers of cases and rates (per 100,000 population) of HIV/AIDS," was 60.6 for black women but only 3.3 for white women.<ref>[https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/resources/reports/2007report/table6a.htm CDC] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141229224802/http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/resources/reports/2007report/table6a.htm |date=2014-12-29 }}</ref>{{Improper synthesis|date=July 2023|reason=the cited RS does not mention Fumento}}
In a theme discussed in ''Commentary'' and in his book, Fumento described various agendas served by promoting "AIDS hysteria:" "On the opposite side of the spectrum [[Christian fundamentalist]]s deploy it in order to underline their vision of morality," he wrote in ''Commentary''. He also discussed it in a 1988 [[The New Republic|''New Republic'']] cover story.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fumento.com/bigaids.html |title=The New Republic, August 8, 1988 |access-date=2009-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090718215835/http://www.fumento.com/bigaids.html |archive-date=2009-07-18 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Monsanto controversy===
On January 13, 2006, Scripps Howard announced it would terminate its business relationship with Fumento and cease carrying his column. At issue were opinion columns Fumento had written concerning the biotechnology firm [[Monsanto Company]] while he was a senior fellow at the [[Hudson Institute]], a conservative think tank. The connection between Fumento and Monsanto was first revealed by investigative reporter Eamon Javers in ''[[Business Week]].''<ref name="Javers">Eamon Javers, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20060115090216/http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/jan2006/nf20060113_2851_db035.htm A Columnist Backed by Monsanto]", ''[[Business Week]]'', January 13, 2006.</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Kurtz |first=Howard |date=January 16, 2006 |title=In the Fog of War, A Moral Haze |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2006/01/16/in-the-fog-of-war-a-moral-haze/77a0daa7-2bda-4bfb-ad93-836eff09fdd0/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Romenesko |first=Jim |date=2006-01-13 |title=SHNS boots columnist Fumento for not disclosing payments |url=https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2006/shns-boots-columnist-fumento-for-not-disclosing-payments/ |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=Poynter |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nctimes.com/news/science/columnists/fikes/article_475d1132-bffc-54bf-b6c1-e611c0280de9.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120911071823/http://www.nctimes.com/news/science/columnists/fikes/article_475d1132-bffc-54bf-b6c1-e611c0280de9.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-09-11 |title=Payola burns biotech pundit |publisher=Nctimes.com |date=2006-01-29 |access-date=2012-11-26}}</ref> General manager Peter Copeland explained that Fumento "did not tell SHNS editors, and therefore we did not tell our readers, that in 1999 Hudson received a $60,000 grant from Monsanto.... Our policy is that he should have disclosed that information. We apologize to our readers."<ref name="Javers" />

Fumento acknowledged that he benefited from Monsanto's grant to Hudson, which was meant for his book on agribusiness, ''BioEvolution''.<ref name="Javers" /><ref name=":0" /> He wrote on the [[Townhall]] website: "It was a $60,000 book grant to my employer, solicited back in 1999, which was applied to pre-established salary and benefits."<ref>Michael Fumento, "[http://www.townhall.com/columnists/MichaelFumento/2006/01/19/how_the_conservative_columnist_witch_hunt_burned_me How the Conservative Columnist Witch Hunt Burned Me]", ''[[Townhall.com]]'', January 19, 2006.</ref> He told ''The Washington Post'' that he didn't disclose the Monsanto grant in his book because "Monsanto asked me not to", that he had no obligation to inform Scripps Howard or its readers about the past payment, and that he had feared that disclosure would lead his critics to call him a "corporate whore".<ref name=":0" /> He wrote that of approximately 100 columns he had written, three mentioned Monsanto.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web |date= |title=Columnist Michael Fumento Defends Book Grant |url=http://www.fumento.com/media/salzman.html |access-date=2012-11-26 |publisher=Fumento.com}}</ref>{{Third-party inline|date=July 2023|reason=needed for assessments and [[WP:PROPORTION]]}} 

=== Swine flu ===
During the [[2009 swine flu pandemic]], Fumento opined in a February 2010 [[Forbes]] article that the [[World Health Organization]] (WHO) had faked the pandemic and that "The agency needed to bounce back after the [[Avian influenza|avian flu]] embarrassment."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Fumento|first=Michael|date=2010-02-05|title=Why The WHO Faked A Pandemic|work=[[Forbes]]|url=https://www.forbes.com/2010/02/05/world-health-organization-swine-flu-pandemic-opinions-contributors-michael-fumento.html|url-status=dead|access-date=2021-02-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100208182828/https://www.forbes.com/2010/02/05/world-health-organization-swine-flu-pandemic-opinions-contributors-michael-fumento.html|archive-date=2010-02-08}}</ref> In an August 2010 ''[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]'' article, Fumento said in response to the WHO declaring the swine flu pandemic over that "the WHO had no business labeling it a "pandemic." It did so purely for its own interests, wreaking worldwide havoc."<ref>{{Cite web|last=Fumento|first=Michael|date=2010-08-20|title=A Requiem For The Phantom Pandemic|url=http://fumento.com/swineflu/phantom.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101028180119/http://fumento.com/swineflu/phantom.html|archive-date=2010-10-28|access-date=2021-03-12|website=fumento.com}}</ref>{{Third-party inline|date=July 2023|reason=needed for assessments and [[WP:PROPORTION]]}}

=== Break with "extreme right" ===
In a May 2012 essay, Fumento said that he considered himself part of the "[[Old Right (United States)|Old Right]]" but that he rejected the "extreme right," which, he wrote, had taken over the Republican Party and dominated [[conservative (politics)|conservative]] media. He wrote, "I'm horrified that these people have co-opted the name 'conservative' to scream their messages of hate and anger."<ref name="Salon">[http://www.salon.com/2012/05/24/my_break_with_the_extreme_right/ My break with the extreme right: I worked for Reagan and wrote for National Review. But the new hysterical right cares nothing for truth or dignity] By Michael Fumento, Salon.com, May 24, 2012</ref>{{Third-party inline|date=July 2023|reason=needed for assessments and [[WP:PROPORTION]]}}

===COVID-19===
In a January 23, 2020, ''New York Post'' opinion article, "Don’t buy the media hype over the new China virus," he called concerns about [[COVID-19]] during the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] "tinfoil-hat paranoia" and wrote that "there appears to be nothing very special about this outbreak".<ref>{{cite web|last=Fumento |first=Michael |url=https://nypost.com/2020/01/23/dont-buy-the-media-hype-over-the-new-china-virus/ |title=Don't buy the media hype over the new China virus |publisher=Nypost.com |date=2020-01-23 |access-date=2020-04-19}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/01/26/opinion/editorial/good-information-is-best-antidote-to-panic-over-coronavirus/677608/ |title=Good information is best antidote to panic over coronavirus – The Manila Times |publisher=Manilatimes.net |date= 26 January 2020|access-date=2020-04-19}}</ref> In a March 8, 2020, followup opinion article, he decried the "pure hysteria" about the virus," noting that there had been only 19 deaths in the US at the time, and maintained that "the spread of the virus continues to slow."<ref>{{cite web|last=Fumento |first=Michael |url=https://nypost.com/2020/03/08/coronavirus-going-to-hit-its-peak-and-start-falling-sooner-than-you-think/ |title=Coronavirus going to hit its peak and fall sooner than you think |publisher=Nypost.com |date=2020-03-09 |access-date=2020-04-19}}</ref>{{Third-party inline|date=July 2023|reason=needed for assessments and [[WP:PROPORTION]]}}

==Affiliations==
Fumento has been affiliated with the following organizations:
* Independent Journalism Project—director<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fumento.com/biography.html |title=Michael Fumento Biography |publisher=Fumento.com |access-date=2012-11-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100525110017/http://www.fumento.com/biography.html |archive-date=2010-05-25 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* ''[[Washington Times]]''—legal writer, later freelancer<ref>[http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/tqh48d00/pdf Pseudoscience Going Up in Smoke]</ref>
* [[Hudson Institute]]—senior fellow from 1998 to 2006<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20040618044947/http://stopexxon.unfortu.net/ Exxon Secrets<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref name="A Columnist Backed by Monsanto">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060115090216/http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/jan2006/nf20060113_2851_db035.htm A Columnist Backed by Monsanto<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
* [[National Journalism Center]]<ref name="legacy.library.ucsf.edu">[http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/vnw65c00/pdf PR Watch, Vol. 7, No. 3: Tobacco's Secon... (vnw65c00)]</ref>
* Investor's Business Daily—national issues staff writer/later freelance<ref name="legacy.library.ucsf.edu"/>
* [[The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition]] (TASSC) on Advisory Board<ref>[http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/any77d00/pdf ANNUAL REPORT (any77d00)<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

==Books==
* Fumento, Michael (1990) ''The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS: How a Tragedy Has Been Distorted by the Media and Partisan Politics''. Basic Books, New York, 1990. A New Republic Book. {{ISBN|1-59403-057-X}}
* {{cite book|last=Fumento|first=Michael|title=The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS: How a Tragedy Has Been Distorted by the Media and Partisan Politics|publisher=Regnery Publishing|year=1993|isbn=0-89526-729-2}}
* {{cite book|last=Fumento|first=Michael|title=Science Under Siege: Balancing Technology and the Environment|publisher=William Morrow & Company|year=1993|isbn=0-688-10795-8|url=https://archive.org/details/scienceundersieg00fume}}
* {{cite book|last=Fumento|first=Michael|title=Polluted Science: The EPA's Campaign to Expand Clean Air Regulations|url=https://archive.org/details/pollutedsciencee0000fume|url-access=registration|publisher=AEI Press|year=1997|isbn=0-8447-4041-1}}
* {{cite book|last=Fumento|first=Michael|title=The Fat of the Land: The Obesity Epidemic and How Overweight Americans Can Help Themselves|publisher=Viking|year=1997|isbn=0-670-87059-5|url=https://archive.org/details/fatofland00mich}}<ref name="Wilding1998">{{cite journal|last1=Wilding|first1=John|title=A weighty problem (Review of ''The Fat of the Land'')|journal=Nature|volume=391|issue=6669|year=1998|page=759|issn=0028-0836|doi=10.1038/35793|bibcode=1998Natur.391..759W |s2cid=5112409|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* {{cite book|last=Fumento|first=Michael|title=BioEvolution: How Biotechnology Is Changing Our World|publisher=Encounter Books|year=2003|isbn=1-893554-75-9|url=https://archive.org/details/bioevolutionhowb00fume}}<ref name="Selinger2004">{{cite journal|last1=Selinger|first1=Evan|title=Review of ''Bioevolution: How Biotechnology Is Changing Our World''|journal=The Quarterly Review of Biology|volume=79|issue=3|year=2004|pages=294–295|issn=0033-5770|doi=10.1086/425757}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links==
* {{official website|http://www.fumento.com/}}
* [http://rightwingnews.com/interviews/fumento.php Interview with Fumento] at Right Wing News
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060115090216/http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/jan2006/nf20060113_2851_db035.htm A Columnist Backed by Monsanto], in BusinessWeek Online
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060318082813/http://www.fumento.com/media/witch-hunt.html Fumento's response to being dropped by Scripps Howard]
* [http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/biohype BioHype] a review of Fumento's ''Bioevolution: How Biotechnology Is Changing Our World'' from American Scientist Online.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927214147/http://www.windsofchange.net/archives/009383.php Conduct Unbecoming: Fumento and the Atala Stem Cell Paper] An article concerning Fumento's criticism of the ''New York Times'' for not printing a write-up on research into amniotic stem cell research.
* {{C-SPAN|12990}}

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