Tobacco companies found themselves facing the need to argue that some of the scientific evidence used to support laws banning smoking in public places is “junk science“, but quickly realized that a campaign focused on tobacco-related research would be dismissed as transparently self-serving. So they instead spent their money to a create propaganda campaign that attacked scientific research on many fronts, including research that supported smoking bans. The end result? The execrable Web site JunkScience.com. I’m sure John Stossel fits in here somewhere as well.
May 16, 2008 at 6:17 pm
When they’re selling the only product that causes death when used as directed, do you really expect any truthfulness from the manufacturer?! It’s a real shame that so many politicians have allowed big tobacco to get away with so much dishonesty and deviousness over the years. And unfortunately big tobacco still seems to have a lot of influence over many politicians at both the state and national levels in 2008.
May 16, 2008 at 8:39 pm
I used to be on the “what people do in their own homes is their business” side until the second time we had to move because our neighbor smoked and the second-hand smoke leaked into our apartment.
I will do what I can to ensure that smoking*—a public health nuisance—is outlawed everywhere. Today it means working with local groups to make this happen.
*I have no beef against chew, snuff and those smokeless pipes. Or smoking helmets.
May 18, 2008 at 7:51 am
Ugh. Well, bashing science in general for personal gain is all the rage these days. They’re just following lead of the ‘intelligent (sic) design’ folks and political conservatives re global warming. Seeing how relatively effective those groups have been, I can see how they see this as a tactic worth pursuing.