Tom Perkins
Tom Perkins is a freelance reporter whose coverage for the Guardian focuses on the health consequences of toxic chemicals and contamination in everyday life, connecting new scientific research with the ways people are exposed at home, at work, and through consumer products.
Chemicals in everyday products and human exposure
Perkins consistently reports on hazardous and hormone-disrupting chemicals in intimate products, food packaging, plastics, and household items, and on evidence that these substances are turning up in human bodies.
His recent Guardian piece on breast milk samples in the US documented alarming levels of compounds including BPA, BPS, melamine, cyanuric acid, and triclosan, and set out how such chemicals can interfere with hormonal systems that are critical to infant development even at very low doses. He has covered research finding PFAS in condoms and lubricants, as well as studies showing thousands of chemicals used in food packaging and containers present in humans, and separate work indicating that human skin can absorb PFAS at higher levels than previously recorded. Across these stories he treats peer‑reviewed research and detailed lab testing as the backbone of his reporting, then draws out the specific health risks such as cancers, liver problems, birth defects, fertility issues, and blood pressure disorders tied to long‑term, low‑level exposure.
“Forever chemicals”, water contamination and environmental health
Perkins has built a substantial body of work on per‑ and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other persistent pollutants in water and food, making environmental contamination a core part of his health beat. His Guardian reporting on PFAS‑contaminated water and food describes how these “forever chemicals” accumulate in soil and drinking‑water systems, affect large populations, and are linked with a wide range of health problems in affected communities. He has written about residents living near industrial plants who report elevated rates of cancers and kidney disease alongside extremely high PFAS levels in local groundwater, and he contrasts those measurements with far lower state and federal guidelines. Other Guardian pieces track PFAS and related chemicals in everyday items, from food packaging to household products, tying together contamination in the environment with direct human exposure and stressing that most people now carry these substances in their blood. The through‑line is that pollution, chemical design, and regulatory choices are inseparable from public health outcomes.
Regulation, industry influence and policy fights
Perkins regularly situates chemical and pollution stories inside broader fights over regulation, agricultural policy, and industry power. His Guardian coverage includes a Republican‑backed farm bill that critics describe as a pesticide industry wishlist, in which he details provisions that would weaken protections and expand the use of hazardous chemicals in agriculture.
He has followed attempts to roll back strict PFAS drinking‑water limits and examined how chemical companies and parts of the federal government challenge scientific findings on health risks, framing these moves as part of a sustained effort to avoid tighter controls.
In these pieces he foregrounds voices from affected communities, public‑health advocates, and independent scientists, and contrasts their concerns with lobbying campaigns and regulatory decisions that keep dangerous substances in circulation. The result is coverage that links individual studies and contamination events to the policy structures that allow or restrain them.
Consumer guidance and practical risk reduction
Alongside his investigative work, Perkins writes service journalism that helps readers reduce their exposure to toxic chemicals in everyday life.
In collaboration with consumer outlets he has produced pieces on microplastics in food, safer ways to clean kitchens, and safer choices for cookware and kitchenware, often framed as step‑by‑step challenges to detox the home. These articles draw on his years of reporting on toxic chemicals for the Guardian and other publications, but focus on clear, practical guidance - how to interpret product labels, which materials and formulations to favour or avoid, and what changes can meaningfully lower risk.
Across his work, he treats health, environment, and consumer behaviour as one system: scientific findings inform his reporting, policy debates shape the context, and everyday decisions remain the point of impact.
4 more health journalists.
Aislinn Antrim
Aislinn Antrim is an associate editorial director at Pharmacy Times and a journalist who connects clinical advances, regulation, and the changing role of pharmacists. She writes pharmacy-centered health coverage on chronic disease therapeutics, specialty and oncology care, workforce pressures, and advocacy. Her reporting explains FDA actions, policy shifts, drug pipelines, and the real-world effects of new evidence on patient care and pharmacy practice. She often uses interviews and expert conversations to show how pharmacists improve adherence, manage side effects, navigate access and benefits, and coordinate care with prescribers. She also covers burnout, staffing strain, and the future of pharmacy practice, with an eye on how policy and economics shape work at the dispenser.
Alex Cabrero
Alex Cabrero is an Emmy award-winning KSL TV reporter who covers where health, safety and community life meet, always focused on how decisions and events affect everyday people. He has been with KSL since 2004, bringing long experience in breaking news, public service coverage and human-centered features. His beat includes public health, emergency response, technology, local infrastructure, environment and science, framed through community well-being and resilience. He reports on issues like mental health initiatives, law enforcement staffing, environmental hazards, rescues, wildfire detection tools, land-use fights and scientific discoveries, making technical and policy details clear for a general audience. He also produces many positive, everyday-life features on families, veterans, farmers, sports and local traditions. His style is direct and conversational, often built around a central person or family whose experience carries the story across TV, digital and social platforms.
Alexandra Frost
Alexandra Frost is a freelance journalist and content marketing writer who turns expert-backed health and family guidance into clear, practical service stories. She covers consumer health, wellness, nutrition, preventive care, medical research, parenting, kids’ mental health, education, products, and lifestyle. Her reporting explains concerns such as inflammation, urinary symptoms, fiber, lung cancer screening, pain treatment, mobility, family dynamics, children’s technology use, and school readiness. She profiles clinicians and scientists, connects research to everyday decisions, and focuses on what readers should watch for, ask, or change. Frost currently writes across multiple outlets, including Good Housekeeping, Cincinnati Magazine, Wirecutter, Popular Science, Success, Healthline, Parents, Women’s Health, Reader’s Digest, Today’s Parent, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, TIME, Consumer Reports, Business Insider, and National Geographic. She also works as a freelance editor, media consultant, and content strategist.
Alexandra Pattillo
Alexandra Pattillo is a freelance journalist who pairs rigorous health and science reporting with intimate accounts of patients’ lives. She covers health, science and wellness for the BBC and other major outlets, including National Geographic, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Outside, CNN and Inverse. Her beat includes eating disorders, women’s health, perinatal mental health, brain health, youth sports, concussion, long-term Covid symptoms, attention, habits and behavioral science. She reports on emerging treatments such as psychedelic-assisted therapy for anorexia, testing evidence, safety and relapse risk. She explains complex research in plain language and examines how it shapes everyday choices. Her reporting uses in-depth interviews with patients, families, clinicians, researchers and coaches. Through the BBC’s Health Gap column, she also covers stigma, unequal access to care and gaps between lived experience and standard medical pathways.