Trust Us, We're Experts!

Trust Us, We're Experts! How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles With Your Future, Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber, Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2001

This is a very eye-opening look at how corporations and public relations firms manipulate public opinion and science to get people to believe, for instance, that a chemical company is actually full of closet environmentalists. There are any number of methods by which this is done.

People are more likely to believe that Product X is not bad for them, or the environment, if they hear it from a doctor, or a soccer mom, or an institute with a liberal-sounding name, than if they heard it from the maker of the product. The fact that these "third parties" are bankrolled by the product maker is conveniently not mentioned.

Scientists have been paid thousands of dollars to simply sign their names to a letter, written by a corporation or PR firm, for instance, extolling the virtues of a certain drug, even if nothing has been proven in the lab. Research dollars are few and far between, except from corporations like Dow or Monsanto. Along with the check is the expectation that a favorable (to the corporation) result will occur, even if fudging the data is required.

Another tactic is to sow doubt in the minds of the public, to say that more study is needed. The general consensus is that global warming must be tackled now, but there are enough scientists who feel that all the questions must be answered first, before we do anything. It's enough to make a person throw up their hands in disgust.

Among the advice from the authors are: recognize the various types of propaganda; realize that, to some extent, science is supposed to be uncertain; demand accountability from the scientific press; get active and follow the money.

This is a first-rate chronicle of just how easily supposedly impartial "experts" are subject to corporate manipulation. To begin to learn the ins and outs of modern day lying and deceit, this is a wonderful place to start. It is well worth reading.