Bending Science: How Special Interests Corrupt Public Health Research

by Thomas O. McGarity, Wendy E. Wagner

Overview

What do we know about the possible poisons that industrial technologies leave in our air and water? How reliable is the science that federal regulators and legislators use to protect the public from dangerous products? As this disturbing book shows, ideological or economic attacks on research are part of an extensive pattern of abuse.

Thomas O. McGarity and Wendy E. Wagner reveal the range of sophisticated legal and financial tactics political and corporate advocates use to discredit or suppress research on potential human health hazards. Scientists can find their research blocked, or find themselves threatened with financial ruin. Corporations, plaintiff attorneys, think tanks, even government agencies have been caught suppressing or distorting research on the safety of chemical products.

With alarming stories drawn from the public record, McGarity and Wagner describe how advocates attempt to bend science or “spin” findings. They reveal an immense range of tools available to shrewd partisans determined to manipulate research.

Bending Science exposes an astonishing pattern of corruption and makes a compelling case for reforms to safeguard both the integrity of science and the public health.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674047143
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	03/15/2012
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.80(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Thomas O. McGarity is Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Professor in Administrative Law at the University of Texas School of Law and former attorney-advisor in the Office of General Counsel of the Environmental Protection Agency. He is author of Bending Science (Harvard), The Preemption War, and Freedom to Harm, as well as articles in the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, and The American Prospect. He is a past president of the Center for Progressive Reform.

Wendy E. Wagner is Richard Dale Endowed Chair in Law at the University of Texas School of Law.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

1 Introduction 1

2 Why Bend Science?: The Players, the Setting, and the Consequences 20

3 Where Are the Scientists?: Distorting Science without Oversight or Penalty 44

4 Shaping Science: The Art of Creating Research to Fit One's Needs 60

5 Hiding Science: The Art of Concealing Unwelcome Information 97

6 Attacking Science: The Art of Turning Reliable Research into "Junk" 128

7 Harassing Scientists: The Art of Bullying Scientists Who Produce Damaging Research 157

8 Packaging Science: The Art of Assembling an Expert Group to Advance a Favored Outcome 181

9 Spinning Science: The Art of Manipulating Public Perceptions about Credible Science 204

10 Restoring Science: Forcing Bent Science Out into the Open 229

11 Reforming Science Oversight: Instituting More Vigorous Oversight Processes 259

12 Final Thoughts: A Broader Perspective on the Problem and the Prospects for Change 291

Notes 301

Index 377

What People are Saying About This

Thanks to extraordinary detective work into both law and science, Bending Science makes a compelling case that the system of policy-relevant science has gone badly off the tracks, and that law is both part of the problem and the solution. Powerful but not polemical, McGarity and Wagner show groups of all political stripes, and the government itself, have misrepresented and manipulated science.

Lisa Heinzerling

Thanks to extraordinary detective work into both law and science, Bending Science makes a compelling case that the system of policy-relevant science has gone badly off the tracks, and that law is both part of the problem and the solution. Powerful but not polemical, McGarity and Wagner show groups of all political stripes, and the government itself, have misrepresented and manipulated science. --(Lisa Heinzerling, co-author of PRICELESS: On Knowing the Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing)

Carl F. Cranor

Drawing together a host of little-known but dramatic cases, this landmark book documents more comprehensively than any previous study, what has been suspected for years: how extensively scientific data are misused and abused in regulatory and tort law. Society depends on science to guide public policy on health and safety, but as McGarity and Wagner show, many interest groups do all they can to influence --and undermine-- independent and honest research. Bending Science shows just how far science has been corrupted, and offers a road to reform.

— Carl F. Cranor, author of TOXIC TORTS: Science, Law, and the Possibility of Justice

Editorial Reviews

Drawing together a host of little-known but dramatic cases, this landmark book documents more comprehensively than any previous study, what has been suspected for years: how extensively scientific data are misused and abused in regulatory and tort law. Society depends on science to guide public policy on health and safety, but as McGarity and Wagner show, many interest groups do all they can to influence—and undermine—independent and honest research. Bending Science shows just how far science has been corrupted, and offers a road to reform.

Carl F. Cranor

Bending Science is so chock-full of ideas and insights… McGarity and Wagner’s insight has large implications both for potential legal reforms and for public faith in the integrity of the scientific process… Bending Science is an immensely important book. It is one of quite a large number of books published recently on the manipulations of science by interest groups and the government. Yet even in this crowded field, Bending Science stakes out its own ground and makes an invaluable contribution to the debate over the role of science in public policy.

Texas Law Journal - Lisa Heinzerling

Bending Science is an intelligent and compelling blend of investigative journalism and theoretical analysis of the structural and functional flaws of the research enterprise, from the development of testable ideas to the use of its results for practical purposes… Bending Science [is] an indispensable read for our current troubled times. All in all, this book is a must-read not only for researchers devoted to the scientific method but also for all who wish to become competent consumers of research that can influence their lives. The narrative is an eye-opener, which will provide the reader with tools to understand the research process and protect himself/herself from advocacy-based distortions.

Metapsychology - Maura Pilotti

Bending Science is an intelligent and compelling blend of investigative journalism and theoretical analysis of the structural and functional flaws of the research enterprise, from the development of testable ideas to the use of its results for practical purposes...Bending Science [is] an indispensable read for our current troubled times. All in all, this book is a must-read not only for researchers devoted to the scientific method but also for all who wish to become competent consumers of research that can influence their lives. The narrative is an eye-opener, which will provide the reader with tools to understand the research process and protect himself/herself from advocacy-based distortions.
— Maura Pilotti

Metapsychology

Bending Science is so chock-full of ideas and insights...McGarity and Wagner's insight has large implications both for potential legal reforms and for public faith in the integrity of the scientific process...Bending Science is an immensely important book. It is one of quite a large number of books published recently on the manipulations of science by interest groups and the government. Yet even in this crowded field, Bending Science stakes out its own ground and makes an invaluable contribution to the debate over the role of science in public policy.
— Lisa Heinzerling

Texas Law Journal