The Coronavirus Crisis
2.2 Million People in the U.S. Could Die If Coronavirus Goes Unchecked
Exposure to air pollution could make the virus particularly deadly for poor Americans.
Sharon Lerner
Sharon Lerner was an investigative reporter at The Intercept, where she covered health, science, and the environment since 2015. Her work shines a light on corporate malfeasance and lapses in government oversight. In particular, she has covered how failures of the environmental regulatory process affect ordinary Americans. She also reported extensively on the Covid-19 pandemic, revealing the profiteering of pharmaceutical companies as well as the lack of biosafety protections on U.S.-funded research.
Lerner’s first work for The Intercept, a three-part series about the chemical PFOA called “The Teflon Toxin,” was a finalist for a National Magazine Award and featured in the documentary “The Devil We Know.” She went on to cover PFAS, the class of chemicals to which PFOA belongs, in extraordinary depth in her ongoing series “Bad Chemistry. Lerner has helped reveal the disproportionate burden of pollution faced by the poor and people of color, including those living near facilities that emit carcinogens into the air and those impacted by chemicals in soil and water.
Lerner’s stories on interference with the EPA’s chemical approval process helped lead the House Energy and Commerce Committee to hold a hearing on the matter, and her work has also been cited in other congressional hearings. She was the first to write that firefighting foam used by the military contained PFAS and broke the story that GenX, DuPont’s replacement for PFOA, causes cancer. Her reporting helped lead the U.S. Air Force to discontinue the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam, was cited in the Stockholm Convention’s decision to limit the international use of PFOA, and paved the way for a public reckoning over GenX water pollution in North Carolina. Her in-depth investigation of chlorpyrifos was the first to lay out how the Trump administration might reverse a long-awaited ban of the pesticide. And her reporting on National Institutes of Health-funded research on bat coronaviruses in Wuhan, China, has helped inform the discussion of the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lerner has received seven awards from the Society for Environmental Journalists and five from the Newswomen’s Club of New York, which named her journalist of the year in 2021. She has also received awards from the Park Center for Independent Media, the American Public Health Association, the Children’s Environmental Health Network, and the Women & Politics Institute, among other organizations.
Prior to joining The Intercept, Lerner worked for the Village Voice, the public radio show “The Infinite Mind,” and the New School, where she taught journalism. Her stories have also appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, The Nation, and the Washington Post. She is the author of “The War on Moms: On Life in a Family-Unfriendly Nation,” a book about the lack of public support for families in the U.S.
Lerner lives in Brooklyn, New York, and has an undergraduate degree from Brown University and a master’s degree in public health from Columbia University.
Lerner’s first work for The Intercept, a three-part series about the chemical PFOA called “The Teflon Toxin,” was a finalist for a National Magazine Award and featured in the documentary “The Devil We Know.” She went on to cover PFAS, the class of chemicals to which PFOA belongs, in extraordinary depth in her ongoing series “Bad Chemistry. Lerner has helped reveal the disproportionate burden of pollution faced by the poor and people of color, including those living near facilities that emit carcinogens into the air and those impacted by chemicals in soil and water.
Lerner’s stories on interference with the EPA’s chemical approval process helped lead the House Energy and Commerce Committee to hold a hearing on the matter, and her work has also been cited in other congressional hearings. She was the first to write that firefighting foam used by the military contained PFAS and broke the story that GenX, DuPont’s replacement for PFOA, causes cancer. Her reporting helped lead the U.S. Air Force to discontinue the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam, was cited in the Stockholm Convention’s decision to limit the international use of PFOA, and paved the way for a public reckoning over GenX water pollution in North Carolina. Her in-depth investigation of chlorpyrifos was the first to lay out how the Trump administration might reverse a long-awaited ban of the pesticide. And her reporting on National Institutes of Health-funded research on bat coronaviruses in Wuhan, China, has helped inform the discussion of the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lerner has received seven awards from the Society for Environmental Journalists and five from the Newswomen’s Club of New York, which named her journalist of the year in 2021. She has also received awards from the Park Center for Independent Media, the American Public Health Association, the Children’s Environmental Health Network, and the Women & Politics Institute, among other organizations.
Prior to joining The Intercept, Lerner worked for the Village Voice, the public radio show “The Infinite Mind,” and the New School, where she taught journalism. Her stories have also appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, The Nation, and the Washington Post. She is the author of “The War on Moms: On Life in a Family-Unfriendly Nation,” a book about the lack of public support for families in the U.S.
Lerner lives in Brooklyn, New York, and has an undergraduate degree from Brown University and a master’s degree in public health from Columbia University.
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The Coronavirus Crisis
Big Pharma Prepares to Profit From the Coronavirus
Pharmaceutical companies view the coronavirus pandemic as a once-in-a-lifetime business opportunity.
The Coronavirus Crisis
Republicans Continue to Deny Coronavirus Threat as Public Health Official Warns of Catastrophe
The worst of the coronavirus outbreak is yet to come, Dr. Anthony Fauci told members of Congress during a House Oversight Committee hearing.
The Coronavirus Crisis
Federal Coronavirus Contract Requests Show the U.S. in a Desperate Scramble to Catch Up
A survey of federal contracts and requests for proposals related to the Covid-19 epidemic is not reassuring.
The Coronavirus Crisis
Cronyism and Conflicts of Interest in Trump's Coronavirus Task Force
Only four members of Trump’s coronavirus task force have any scientific or medical training.
How the Environmental Lawyer Who Won a Massive Judgment Against Chevron Lost Everything
Steven Donziger won a multibillion-dollar judgment against Chevron in Ecuador. The company sued him in New York, and now he’s under house arrest.
Climate Crimes
Ozone Layer Recovery Is Being Undermined by Pollution From U.S. Companies
The EPA has declined to consider the ozone-depleting potential of chemicals released by U.S. companies.
Trump's Gutting of Toxics Regulations Will Mean Higher Profits for Polluters and Higher Cancer Rates for the American People
The Trump EPA is executing an old tobacco industry scheme to dismantle the federal government’s ability to protect the public from cancer.
Bad Chemistry
European Countries Announce Plan to Phase Out Toxic PFAS Chemicals by 2030
A strategy report submitted to the European Commission maps out a comprehensive attack on PFAS chemicals, which have contaminated water around the world.
New Chemical Complex Would Displace Suspected Slave Burial Ground in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley”
The planned Formosa chemical complex, which is one mile from a school, would release more than 800 tons of hazardous air pollutants per year.