Doubt Is Their Product: How Industry's Assault on Science Threatens Your Health

by David Michaels

"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 behaviour 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 ensuring that concern for public safety, rather than private profits, guides our regulatory policy.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Politics, Society, Health, History, Medical

372 pages, ebook

First published April 14, 2008

Reviews

[Todd Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let’s say that a corporation manufactures a popular and profitable consumer product and evidence emerges that the product causes harm (cancer, brain damage, an erection lasting more than 4 hours … whatever). What do you do? One option would be to admit the problem, notify the media, pull the product from the market, and compensate the victims. Instead many companies choose the following:
• Suppress the evidence of harm as long as possible, then deny harm
• Raise doubt about the scientific evidence and point to other causes
• Fund your own biased studies to confound the actual science
• Claim the science isn’t settled
In other words: delay, obfuscate, deny, muddy the waters and point fingers. This is, of course, the tactic employed by the tobacco industry when evidence arose linking tobacco to lung cancer. The approach was so successful in delaying/minimizing regulation that it has become the go-to strategy for industry and lobbying groups embroiled in allegations of product harm whether the compound of concern is lead, asbestos, aromatic amines, vinyl chloride, beryllium, Freon, or deacetyl (an artificial flavor that gives microwave popcorn a buttery flavor and also causes lung damage).

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”
- Upton Sinclair

Look at the arguments that have been employed by the fossil fuel industry and their lobbyists against taking regulatory action on climate change. When one argument is falsified, they fall back to another:
• Climate change is not occurring
• The climate is actually getting colder
• The climate is getting warmer, but not because of human activities
• The climate is getting warmer, in part because of human activities, but this will create greater benefits than costs (remember the ill-conceived “carbon is life” campaign?)
• The climate is getting warmer, in part because of human activities, but the impacts are not sufficient to require any policy response
• The climate is getting warmer, in part because of human activities, the impacts are significant, but meaningful action wouldn’t work / would destroy the economy / would cause an erection lasting more than 4 hours / blah, blah, blah

This approach is summed up in an early internal tobacco industry memo which stated: ”Doubt is our product 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.”

It’s an ideal strategy and despite the fact that they keep running the same play over and over again, it continues to work … every single time. And while scientific evidence eventually triumphs, these tactics serve to delay regulation allowing industry to continue to profit from the activity despite the ongoing harm (scientists first began raising concerns about global warming in the late 1970s, and nearly 40 years later substantive action has yet to be taken). Part of the reason this is so is due to a public misunderstanding of the way science works. Science isn’t so much a collection of established fact as it is an accumulation of evidence that points to a particular conclusion. Absolute certainty with regards to any question is not a realistic expectation, instead science works through the slow accumulation of a preponderance of evidence.

Which brings us to the book itself, Doubt Is Their Product: How Industry's Assault on Science Threatens Your Health. The text summarizes numerous cases in which industry successfully delayed regulation of harmful products. The author, David Michaels, knows a thing or two about this topic. He is an epidemiologist and Professor (on leave) in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the George Washington University School of Public Health. He was Assistant Secretary for Environment, Safety and Health in the Department of Energy between 1998 – 2001, and is currently (having been appointed subsequent to this book’s publication) the Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Michaels focuses mainly on worker protections, but this is an issue that can easily be generalized to other sectors of public health (product safety, consumer protection, food and drug, and gun control to name but a few).

So what’s the solution? Michaels provides a multi-pronged approach involving more extensive utilization of the precautionary principle, better collection and reporting of health data, the use of 3rd party epidemiological studies (to counteract the smokescreen created by industry-biased studies) and better cooperation among regulatory agencies that deal with public health.

As to the text … it’s well written and thoroughly documented and provides a good, if discouraging, overview of the problem.

By way of criticisms I would offer the following:
1. Michaels fails to acknowledge the legitimacy of industry concerns over being falsely accused of manufacturing a product that causes harm. By way of example I will point to Dow Corning and the hullaballoo over silicone breast implants. Here’s what Wiki has to say about the matter:

“Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, class-action lawsuits claimed that Dow Corning's silicone breast implants caused systemic health problems. The claims first centered around breast cancer and then migrated to a range of autoimmune diseases, including lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and various neurological problems. This led to numerous lawsuits beginning in 1984 and culminating in a 1998 multibillion-dollar class action settlement. As a result, Dow Corning was in bankruptcy protection for nine years, ending in June 2004 during which time it largely withdrew from clinical markets. A number of large, independent reviews of the scientific literature, including the Institute of Medicine in the United States, have subsequently found that silicone breast implants do not cause breast cancers or any identifiable systemic disease.”

The company payed out billions of dollars and went into bankruptcy over allegations of product harm that turned out to be completely false. Michaels should acknowledge this very real issue.

2. The book is too long and I became increasingly bored with it over time. Several examples of product harm could have been pruned from the text without dilution of the main points.

[Evelyn Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty readable for the most part (though there were times where I had to reread a section several times to fully understand it, since the author does assume some level of prior knowledge). Dr. Michaels is clearly very knowledgeable about the subject of industry regulation, and he often draws from his own experience working in the Clinton Administration for further evidence. A must-read for anyone interested regulatory agencies such as the EPA and OSHA, or has a sneaking suspicion that every big corporation is profit-hungry and sinister.

[amal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meticulously researched and backed with historical evidence; makes a strong case for transparency and integrity in scientific research and for prioritizing public health protections with the best science available.

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really wanted to give this book five stars, but the book is dated in a way that Merchants of Doubt isn't despite only having a two-year gap between the publications. What really annoyed me, however, was in Chapter 12 when the author states, "Even in the trials for Viagra, men with uncontrolled diabetes or angina or with a history of recent stroke of heart attack were excluded, thus guaranteeing the nonavailability of information about risk in this large population. Extrapolating from the results of these studies on healthier people, doctors are forced to guess the nature of the risks and benefits of taking a drug by someone much less healthy." I was so prepared to read something, anything about the general exclusion of women (let alone pregnant women) in many medical trials, but there was nary a mention of it. That said, overall this book is a solid read on the topic covering a broad range of subjects.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I skimmed this book, did not read it very thoroughly but did go through nearly every page. The reason being is the book would make my blood pressure rise too much if I read it deeply. It's a good book, but I get quite angry hearing about companies that are so calculating, misleading and obscure important information, all in order to improve profits. People's health should not be disregarded so callously for a better bottom line.

The book is a very important book, extremely well researched and noted. The author knows what he writes. It's also a scary book, because of the truth, exposing the history of what has happened. The book tells us how science, and what sounds like science, is used to manipulate in order to avoid doing what’s right, and ultimately hurting or killing people. We see this happen time and time again.

It opens with the warning label we now have on aspirin bottle about Reyes Syndrome. Sadly many children, too many children, had to die before the label was adopted. While the drug manufacturers were debating and denying their product was the cause, more children died. The entire book is like this, sad tales where people are in harm’s way but the organizations deny the harm their product does. And why, well, we know, to ensure their balance sheets look healthy.

There are many cases of worker's health clearly being damaged, one example covered is about the butter on popcorn in a factory that was causing lung issues for the workers, and yet the company does nothing, then denies it until it is irrefutable. Until more workers become sick. The book covers, Big Tobacco, which seems easy to pick on, as well as some chemical companies. There is also a chapter on why children's IQ has gone up about 20 points recently, because finally lead has been taken out of paint and other products.

The book discusses how people demand healthy living, and we see public outcries after specific events or when a book is published, such as Silent Spring but there is a lot of push back. Companies manipulate OSHA, FDA, and other oversight regulatory agencies, who typically do not get enough funding from congress. (It isn’t in the book but money from companies or industries contributing to campaign funds and messing with the political process certainly has an effect.) Then when cases do go before the courts, poor rulings are made, often due to the manipulation continuing to go on by the companies. It is truly sad how data is used to show inconclusive results when it is clear there are health ramifications.

The book is not entirely negative, and I may go back and read the last two chapters in depth. These two are positives, how to improve the system titled: Four Ways to Make the Courts Count & Sarbanes-Oaxley for Science: A Dozen Ways to Improve Our Regulatory System.

Another chapter I probably should also read more thoroughly is about how drug companies in developing their pills manipulate their data. And there are many ways they can do this, but in the end it's all about getting approval quickly even before really knowing how safe the drug may be. After gaining FDA approval if it proves to have problems, they can pull it back, but that is also difficult with more stalling on the part of the drug manufacture.

This is a vital book. I hope people will read it. It's not easy. I couldn't do it. But I'm happy it's out there, it is a necessary book that hopefully will help to change things like The Jungle and Silent Spring did. We can do better.


For a few good reviews and more info:
Science magazine review
Laborers' Health & Safety Fund of North America Review
Physicians for Social Responsibility article that addresses this same issue and refers to this book.

[Rhys · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book by mistake (but read it on purpose). It was very well written.

Doubt is their Product is ostensibly about corporate shenanigans as it relates to manipulating science to sidestep regulation, putting corporate profits ahead of pubic and environmental health - a perspective that is so commonplace that if a corporation were in fact to try to do something progressive or altruistic, it would be met with disbelief.

What makes this book remarkable is that Michaels explains how mercenary scientists operate to obfuscate real science and delay regulation or litigation. "Industry has learned that debating the science is much easier and more effective than debating the policy." They focus on challenging scientific uncertainty and public ignorance of statistical uncertainty.

"Absolute certainty in science is rarely an option; uncertainty is the norm, not the exception; and scientists base their judgements on the weight of the evidence because in many instances they have no other choice. Uncertainty does not mean the science if flawed" (p.165).

What corporate (aka 'junk') science offers is "a hodgepodge of biased data, spurious inference, and logical legerdemain. … It is a catalog of every conceivable kind of error: data dredging, wishful thinking, truculent dogmatism, and, now and again, outright fraud" (p.57). But it works, and until the public demands key principles of scientific completeness, full disclosure, and accountability and responsibility, this trend is likely to continue at our expense.

[Megan M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an extremely important book about the lows that corporations will go to to keep their harmful products on the market to maximize profits. Michaels, the Assistant Secretary of Energy under Clinton, extensively documents the disgusting tactics of Big Pharma, the asbestos industry, Big Tobacco, chemical companies and plastics manufacturers in their bid to keep regulations low, killing or seriously injuring hundreds or thousands of people. While this is not and easy book to read (it can be dry, but also so infuriating that you cannot read another word), but it is extremely relevant, as more people start to push for less and less regulation.

[Brett Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book chronicles the expansion and refinement of Big Tobacco’s “Doubt is our product” strategy, as stated by an RJ Reynolds executive when they and their industry conspired to lie to consumers, claiming for 53 years that cigarettes were not harmful as science said otherwise and tens of millions of smokers died of lung cancer. That multipronged PR/media/political/legal campaign has been adopted by big corporations around the world, but especially in America. Written by a one-time U.S. Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environment, Safety and Health and Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA under two Democratic administrations, the author lays out the scheme, the courts, and the cost of corporate lying. The breadth and depth of it is astonishing. It’s also baked into our economic system because Representatives and Senators write laws for the corporations that buy them, and that’s not Jack and Jill on the street. (Congressmen and women are really expensive.) Moral juggling by these politicians allow for delays that can take decades to fix, if ever, while their paymasters keep the money rolling (see the gun lobby). While some products might kill millions of people, the product might save lives elsewhere, and whatever the industry is, it employs people who vote.

Examples include Johns-Manville, a one-time manufacturer of insulators and fire-retardant asbestos. Like tobacco, the cancer-causing effects of asbestos have been known for decades (actually, centuries). As with Big Tobacco, Johns-Manville was defended by Chicago PR firm Hill & Knowlton as the dead bodies piled up. Vinyl chloride, a chemical used in the plastics industry, causes acroosteolysis, a condition in which the fingers of those who work with it get shorter as their bones dissolve. The vinyl chloride industry censored the science against their product, halted their funding of investigating its deadly effects, hired Hill & Knowlton to mount “an uncertainty campaign,” and lied about their workers dying on the job. In 1965, science discovered lead poisoning from leaded gasoline, leaded paint, and leaded solder in water pipes. The American Petroleum Institute responded that “all accepted medical evidence…proves conclusively that lead in the environment presents no threat to public health.” The lead industry blamed children who were getting sick and suffering mental impairment as “sub-normal to start with,” and they said it was their parents who were to blame for letting kids eat paint peeling off walls of unkept homes. Big Lead then turned to… Hill & Knowlton.

While government regulations can be ham-handed and overdone, as Boeing’s serial plane crashes and door blowouts have indicated, there’s not nearly enough smart regulation and oversight in corporate America. The FAA, FCC, EPA, and Department of Interior even “trust” corporations to self-report violations because those agencies don’t have enough money to hire watchdogs over everybody all the time.

“Trust”?

Really?

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly well researched-- Michaels writes with incredible experience and detail about the ways industry and consulting firms stoke doubt and uncertainty to stall and prevent any meaningful direction in legislation and regulations to protect public health. And he names names -- including some consulting firms who have remained unnamed for too long. It is a slog-- chapter after chapter of a different industry, same playbook became a bit disheartening. However, there are some suggestions for future policy and solutions in the last two chapters. Great book to discuss with public health graduate students!

[Anna Engel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is hard book for me to review. It's not a balanced review of the science world, but it's presented that way. I come from the world of "sound science," which isn't as evil and nefarious as Dr. Michaels makes it sound. The push-and-pull between science, industry, and regulators is complicated by the interests of politicians, the public, and the media. The result is that everyone ends up in court and things get out of hand

[SUPERGREMLIN · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the content and what I learned from the book, but the story telling was a bit lackluster to me. That was not the point of the book, but I tend to enjoy public health books the most when the author tells the story in an engaging and moving way.

[Fran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed and wonky and highly damning of corporate corruption of science and regulatory procedures that are allegedly for health and safety. We learn about lots of trees, but this might have been stronger with better description of the forest.
And much has gotten worse since its 2008 publication.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book I have come across on the subject of corporate influence on science. Prof. Michaels details in case after case how corporations have used the "tobacco strategy" to muddy the waters and delay government regulation of harmful substances. The case studies -- secondhand tobacco smoke, lead, benzene, beryllium, diacetyl, the list goes on and on -- start to blur together, so consistent is the gameplan.

The main scientific takeaway from the book is this: epidemiology is difficult to do correctly and very easy to break. A statistically significant connection between worker exposure and cancer takes years of work. Corporations have become adept at "re-analyzing" scientific studies to create false negatives and routinely put out scientific reports written by Ph.D.s that "sound like science" but serve to obscure rather than reveal. Michaels describes the rise of "product defense firms" that brag on their websites that they can delay regulation of your harmful product for years.

Depressing stuff. But the good news is that David Michaels has been tapped by President Obama to lead the beleaguered Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ... if he can survive a blizzard of right-wing accusations and still be confirmed. He is definitely the right guy for the job - during the Clinton years he was the architect of a highly successful DOE program to compensate workers from the government's weapons labs for their exposure to toxic substances. The story of this successful, bi-partisan program is the final chapter of the books, and is a hopeful coda to what comes before.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an excellent story from a government employee who has been on the "front lines" of the battles over science in regulation. The book discusses the ways that industry produces "science" (both in terms of funding and publishing the research, and statistical and experimental methods) that is designed to obscure and confuse findings of associations between various environmental exposures and health effects. These range from tobacco and asbestos to beryllium that nuclear workers were exposed to, all the way to popcorn lung and modern air quality standards. An excellent read for anyone working on the science-policy interface, and anyone interested in public health and environmental issues.

[Mark Mastalski · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good look at how industry and the lack of governmental oversight is leading to a dangerous combination when it comes to public health safety. The author does a fine job of describing many different issues where public health safety should be job #1, but instead industry, hiding behind "sound science", has gotten to run the show over groups such as EPA, OSHA and NIOSH. Of course it comes down to politics in many ways, but this is a good book to read if you want to know a better history of how these groups who are charged with our safety are turning it over to industry.

[Ralph Hermansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Doubt is Their Product" is a well researched and scholarly book. It is also tells a very sad story. The government we trust to keep us safe has put the foxes in charge of the henhouses. OSHA, for example, has been so intimidated that it has quit trying to protect us. The nuclear weapons industry has contaminated the countryside and used security as an excuse to hide the fact. The FDA has little to no funding to protect us from drugs with serious side effects. If you vote, you must read this book. If you work near chemicals, you would be an idiot not to read it.

Ralph Hermansen 02/28/09

[Shadoshard · Rating 4 out of 5]

The psychology of advertising with the appropriately sinister spin - this book packs the necessary data and references that should make it mandatory reading for high school psychology. But it's terrifying just how successful the industry is in twisting reality to suit their short sighted and damaging agendas. The writing is clear and precise and difficult to dispute. A rallying cry to wake up to the realities of media manipulation before science becomes witchcraft in the 21st century and we're watering crops with sports drinks.

[Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Covers some of the same ground as The Republican War on Science by Chris Mooney, but through a practitioner's (rather than a science journalist's) perspective. This author also goes back further in time and gets more technical about the way, for example, industry manipulates epidemiological studies and seeks to exclude science from the court system.

[Ethan Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eye-opening must-read about how the oligarchy is affecting the regulatory departments of the government, and prolonging the destruction of public health and the environment. It seems this was written in 2006 or 2007, so I would be interested to learn what the author has to say about the situation now.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

i wish i could give it 3.5 stars; it's well written although a bit redundant in parts. overall, it's a pretty solid read detailing industry's unquenchable thirst for cash (even in the face of senselessly killing its employees). capatilism!

[K Stark · Rating 5 out of 5]

A technical read for a very specific audience, but if anyone else is working in health implications from lack of corporate responsibility, especially in investigations, this book is a major eye-opener!

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm very interested in this topic (possibly working in this area for my career?) however, it's non-fiction, which I HATE so we'll see how far I get...

[Greg Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent expose on the tactics of product defense groups and lobbyists and how they twist science to achieve political gains.

[Elizabeth]

As reviewed by Carl F. Cranor in "The Tobacco Strategy Entrenched" in the 5 September 2008 issue of Science.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for anyone in my field. This book should be required reading in any type of environmental health or public policy program.

[Mike Barnett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really important information, but more of a textbook than a easy read. Just unbelievable to read how badly the corporations have the government in their pocket.

[Juno · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read. It starts to feel a little repetitive after a while, but then, hey, that's why it's a must read -- because it's so tragic that we allow industry to manipulate government this way.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, although it gets tiring...better reference than vacation read.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent look at environmental & regulatory issues. Highly recommended.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

every person on the planet should read it.