Even Girl Scout Cookies Aren’t Safe — From Disinformation
PLUS: Israeli Actress’ Hollywood Star Remains Intact; Anti-Trump Punk Band Was Not Banned From X
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Today:
Girl Scout cookies are safe, despite findings from a widely cited study published by anti-GMO activists
“Walk of Fame” Hollywood star for Israeli actress remains intact contrary to viral images of a vandalized plaque
No, X didn’t suspend punk band Dropkick Murphys after the lead singer bashed Trump supporters
And More …
Today’s newsletter was edited by Eric Effron and Sofia Rubinson.
1. Flawed Study Cited by Joe Rogan Pushes Claim that Girl Scout Cookies Are Toxic
By Elisa Xu
What happened: Websites and commentators known for spreading health misinformation are citing a December 2024 study — commissioned by two nonprofits that have frequently questioned the safety of pesticides and oppose genetically modified foods — that claims that Girl Scout cookies contain “toxic” levels of the pesticide glyphosate and heavy metals.
A closer look: The study, commissioned and published by the groups Moms Across America and GMOScience, tested 25 samples of Girl Scout cookies from three U.S. states: California, Iowa, and Louisiana. The study, which was not peer-reviewed, reported that 100 percent of the cookie samples tested positive for the herbicide glyphosate and that 88 percent of the samples tested positive for heavy metals, calling the results “extremely concerning.”
The study has been widely cited to raise the alarm about the supposed danger of Girl Scout cookies, which are enormously popular in the U.S. According to NPR (NewsGuard Trust Score: 100/100), approximately 200 million boxes are sold annually.
The Children's Health Defense (Trust Score: 17.5/100), an anti-vaccine nonprofit founded by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., published an article about the study on March 13 stating: “The fact that 100% of the cookies tested positive for [pesticide] glyphosate and its toxic by-product … should be enough concern for alarm.”
AnyaVien.com (Trust Score: 62/100), a site run by an alternative medicine advocate, reported the study’s findings in a March 12 article and stated: “While these cookies are marketed as a wholesome way to support young girls in leadership and entrepreneurship, the reality is that they may be exposing consumers to dangerous substances with every bite.”
In an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” (NewsGuard Podcast Trust Score: 7/10), a podcast with over 19.5 million subscribers on YouTube, Rogan introduced the findings of the study by stating: “I was reading some study on Girl Scout cookies. Where they’ve done studies on Girl Scout cookies to break them down and find out what’s in them. Holy s---.”
Girl Scout cookies? Is nothing sacred? The study’s findings did not prove that Girl Scout cookies are toxic. The research covered a small sample of cookies and found levels of glyphosate and metals that are within a range considered safe by U.S. government agencies, experts said.
Jessica Steier, a public health scientist and co-host of “The Unbiased Science Podcast,” told Snopes (Trust Score: 100/100) in February 2025, “The certified lab results show all tested parameters fall well within established food safety guidelines.” She added, “The results demonstrate compliance with food safety standards rather than raising red flags.”
Steier wrote in a February 2025 Substack article that a 66-pound child “would need to consume over 9,000 cookies in a single day” to consume an unsafe level of glyphosate.
The study also misleadingly compared the detected level of cadmium in the cookies to the EPA’s safety limits on heavy metals in water, rather than its limits for food. “Water consumption is vastly different from food consumption,” Norbert Kaminski, a Michigan State University pharmacology and toxicology professor, told PolitiFact (Trust Score: 100/100) in March 2025. “People drink liters of water daily, whereas foods like cookies are eaten in much smaller quantities and at less consistent intervals.”
Girl Scouts of the United States of America said in a Feb. 6, 2025, statement that the organization “remain[s] committed to compliance with all food safety standards” and that its cookies “are safe to consume and are manufactured in accordance with all food safety regulations.”
Asked about the criticism of the study, Dr. Michelle Perro, the CEO of GMOScience, told NewsGuard in a March 21, 2025, email: “We reject the notion that our study ‘misrepresents’ the data. Rather, we present our findings within the framework of precautionary science, emphasizing the unique vulnerability of children to environmental toxicants, and the urgent need for more comprehensive food safety assessments.” Moms Across America did not respond to NewsGuard’s request for comment.
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2. Photos Portrayed as Israeli Actress’s ‘Destroyed’ Hollywood Star Actually Show Trump’s Vandalized Plaque
By Macrina Wang
What happened: Both supporters and critics of Israel are sharing images purporting to show that Israeli actress Gal Gadot’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star was smashed soon after she was awarded the honor in a March 18, 2025, ceremony.
Context: Gadot’s award ceremony was disrupted by dozens of pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters, who were, respectively, criticizing or supporting the awarding of the star. Gadot is a vocal advocate of Israel and has frequently expressed support for her country during the Israel-Hamas war.
A closer look: Two of the photos show a damaged Walk of Fame star with debris around it, while the third shows the debris alongside a pickaxe.
Pro-Palestinian TikTok creator @MarigTalksGossip shared a screenshot of Gadot’s supposedly damaged Hollywood star with an on-screen caption that stated, “Ahahahah… do it again!” The video received 172,300 views and 17,900 likes in a day.
Pro-Israel commentator Oren Barsky shared one of the images and stated: “So they ‘freed Palestine’ by ruining Gal Gadot’s star. Once again, they show us the culture of hatred and destruction they represent.” The since-deleted post received 93,600 views and 2,700 likes in four hours.
Actually: The photos show President Donald Trump’s Walk of Fame star after it was demolished by a vandal in 2018.
Reverse image searches conducted by NewsGuard revealed that the photos showed Trump’s star after it was destroyed with a pickaxe on July 25, 2018, by a California man named Austin Clay, who claimed responsibility for the incident.
Clay said in a since-deleted YouTube video published after the vandalism that he destroyed the star as a “one-man protest” against Trump and the Republican Party. In November 2018, he pleaded no contest to a charge of vandalism and was ordered to pay $9,400 to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which administers the Walk of Fame.
One of the earliest posts misrepresenting the photos was published on March 18 by an X page labeled as a “parody account” that received 29 million views and 582,000 likes in two days.
Gadot is the first Israeli actor to be granted a Walk of Fame star. She starred as “Wonder Woman” in film director Patty Jenkins’ 2017 take on the superhero franchise. She has also appeared in “Death on the Nile” and “Red Notice,” among other films.
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3. False Claim that Punk Band Dropkick Murphys Was Suspended by X Over Anti-Trump Comment Goes Viral
By Sam Howard
What happened: Anti-Trump social media users are falsely claiming that Elon Musk’s X suspended the account of Celtic punk bank Dropkick Murphys after lead singer Ken Casey criticized President Donald Trump and X owner Musk in mid-March.
Context: On March 16, the Instagram account for liberal news organization MeidasTouch Network posted a video of a Dropkick Murphys concert, apparently one of the band’s St. Patrick’s Day weekend shows in Boston. In the video, Casey rails against Trump supporters who wear MAGA hats.
Casey said: “If you’re in a room full of people and you want to know who’s in a cult, how do you know who’s in a cult? They’ve been holding up a hat the whole f---ing night to represent a president. This is America, there’s no kings here.” Casey also talked about the black MAGA hat that Musk sometimes wears, calling it a “black-on-black Elon Musk true Nazi edition.”
A closer look: The video of Casey generated online praise from Trump critics, including many who claimed that X suspended the Dropkick Murphys X account in an attempt to quash dissent on the platform.
Anti-Trump Threads user @wvubeerguy stated in a March 18 post: “Did Elon Musk declare war on Boston? Because banning the Dropkick Murphy’s on St. Patrick’s Day seems like an act of war.” The post was liked 5,800 times and reposted 241 times that day.
The same day, anti-Trump X user @esjesjesj stated in a post that included the Dropkick Murphys concert video, “Elon nuked their account for this.” The post received 38,400 views and 2,000 likes in one day.
The claim also spread on several generally reliable news sites, including U.S. news site NewsNationNow.com (Trust Score: 100/100) which stated on March 18: “The X account for Dropkick Murphys, a Massachusetts-based Celtic punk rock band, was suspended Monday night after the band’s frontman called out an audience member wearing a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat.” The article was edited by March 20 to add correct information about why the X account was actually suspended (see below), although no correction note was issued.
Actually: The Dropkick Murphys band itself deleted its X account in 2022, so it couldn’t have been suspended by X in 2025.
Casey told music publication Billboard (Trust Score: 100/100) in March 2025: “We broke up with [Musk] first. We quit Twitter in 2022 when he was only half a Nazi.” Casey said that after the band deleted the account, an impersonator registered the @DropkickMurphys handle, prompting the band to file a legal complaint to suspend the account.
Indeed, archived versions of the X account impersonating the band, @DropkickMurphys, reviewed by NewsGuard show the account was flagged as suspended as early as June 2024, well before the band’s March 2025 concert.
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