Doubt Is Their Product

"Doubt is our product," a cigarette executive once observed, "since it is the best means of competing with the 'body of fact' that exists in the minds of the general public. It is also the means of establishing a controversy." In this eye-opening expose, David Michaels reveals how the tobacco industry's duplicitous tactics spawned a multimillion dollar industry that is dismantling public health safeguards. Product defense consultants, he argues, have increasingly skewed the scientific literature, manufactured and magnified scientific uncertainty, and influenced policy decisions to the advantage of polluters and the manufacturers of dangerous products. To keep the public confused about the hazards posed by global warming, second-hand smoke, asbestos, lead, plastics, and many other toxic materials, industry executives have hired unscrupulous scientists and lobbyists to dispute scientific evidence about health risks. In doing so, they have not only delayed action on specific hazards, but they have constructed barriers to make it harder for lawmakers, government agencies, and courts to respond to future threats. The Orwellian strategy of dismissing research conducted by the scientific community as "junk science" and elevating science conducted by product defense specialists to "sound science" status also creates confusion about the very nature of scientific inquiry and undermines the public's confidence in science's ability to address public health and environmental concerns Such reckless practices have long existed, but Michaels argues that the Bush administration deepened the dysfunction by virtually handing over regulatory agencies to the very corporate powers whose products and behavior they are charged with overseeing. In Doubt Is Their Product Michaels proves, beyond a doubt, that our regulatory system has been broken. He offers concrete, workable suggestions for how it can be restored by taking the politics out of science and that concern for public safety, rather than private profits, guides our regulatory policy.

David Michaels, PhD, MPH, is Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. He served as Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) under President Barack Obama. Prior to that, he served under President Bill Clinton as Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environment, Safety, and Health. He is also the author of The Triumph of Doubt (OUP 2020).

AcknowledgementsIntroduction: "Sound Science" or "Sounds Like Science?"1. "Doubt Is Our Product"2. Waiting for the Body Count3. America Demands Protection4. Why our Children are Smarter Than We Are5. The Enronization of Science6. Tricks of the Trade: How Mercenary Scientists Mislead You7. Defending Secondhand Smoke8. Still Waiting for the Body Count9. Chrome-Plated Mischief10. OSHA Gives Up11. Defending the Taxicab Standard12. The Country has a Drug Problem13. Daubert: The Most Influential Supreme Court Ruling You've Never Heard Of14. The Institutionalization of Uncertainty15. The Bush Administration's Political Science16. Making Peace with the Past17. Four Ways to Make the Courts Count18. Sarbanes-Oxley for Science: A Dozen Ways to Improve Our Regulatory SystemReferencesAbbreviations