Apparently, appalled by robust sales of my bestseller, "The Real Anthony Fauci," CNN anchor Jake Tapper — in lieu of critically reviewing the work — used his Twitter feed to unleash a barrage of ad hominem insults against me.

Breaking with the traditional restraints of journalistic neutrality, professional propriety and intellectual rigor, he branded me "dangerous," a "menace," a "liar," a "grifter," a fraud, "unhinged" and more.

But Tapper's defamations hang in the atmosphere without substantiation or citation. If I'm a liar, then what was my lie? If I'm a grifter, then what is my personal profit or advantage? If I am a fraud, then where is my inaccurate statement?

I concede that I'm a dangerous menace, but only to the pharmaceutical industry, its captive technocrats and its media toadies.

When I responded to his slander with a respectful tweet inviting him to debate me, Tapper declined, explaining he would not debate a "conspiracy theorist." Characteristically, he neglected to cite any conspiracy theory he believes I promoted.

And is it credible to dismiss me as a conspiracy theorist unworthy of debate? After all, I am founder and former president of the world's largest water protection group, and founder and current chairman of one of the largest children's health advocacy groups.

I've won hundreds of successful lawsuits, including milestone victories against Monsanto, DuPont, Exxon, Smithfield Foods and leading polluters from the chemical, carbon, pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. (Many of these also initially dismissed me as a "conspiracy theorist.")