Trust Us, We're Experts PA

by Sheldon Rampton

, (July 25, 2000).

  47 “Special Report: What Happens When Universities Become Businesses?” (Research Corporation Annual Report, 1997), p. 6.

  48 Remarks by Martin Michaelson, delivered at AAAS symposium on Secrecy in Science, MIT, Cambridge, MA, March 29, 1999 , (July 25, 2000).

  49 Letter from Arthur Bueche to S. Dedijer, quoted in S. Dedijer, “Management Intelligence and Secrecy Management,” in Manfred Schmutzer, Technische Innovation (Wien: Interdisziplinares Forschungszentrum, 1979), p. 119.

  50 David Blumenthal et al., “Withholding Research Results in Academic Life Science,” Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 277, no. 15 (April 16, 1997).

  51 Drummond Rennie, “Thyroid Storm” (editorial), Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 277, no. 15 (April 16, 1997), p. 1242.

  52 Ibid.

  53 Shenk, pp. 11-12.

  54 Robert Lee Hotz, “Secrecy Is Often the Price of Medical Research Funding,” Los Angeles Times, May 18, 1999, p. A-1.

  55 Richard A. Knox, “Disclosure Fight May Push Doctor Out of Occupational Health Field,” Boston Globe, May 22, 1999, p. B5.

  56 Richard A. Knox, “Science and Secrecy,” Boston Globe, March 30, 1999, p. A3.

  57 “Special Report: What Happens When Universities Become Businesses?” (Research Corporation Annual Report, 1997), p. 9.

  58 Richard A. Davidson, “Source of Funding and Outcome of Clinical Trials,” Journal of General Internal Medicine, vol. 12, no. 3 (May-June 1986), pp. 155-158. Quoted in Crossen, p. 169.

  59 P. A. Rochon, J. H. Gurwitz, R. W. Simms, P. R. Fortin, D. T. Felson, K. L. Minaker, et al., “A Study of Manufacturer-Supported Trials of Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs in the Treatment of Arthritis,” Archives of Internal Medicine, vol. 154, no. 2 (January 24, 1994), pp. 157-163.

  60 Mildred K. Cho and Lisa A. Bero, “The Quality of Drug Studies Published in Symposium Proceedings,” Annals of Internal Medicine, vol. 124, no. 5 (3/1/96), pp. 485-489.

  61 Henry Thomas Stelfox et al., “Conflict of Interest in the Debate over Calcium-Channel Antagonists,” New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 338, no. 2 (January 8, 1998), pp. 101-106.

  62 M. Friedberg, B. Saffran, T. J. Stinson, W. Nelson, and C. L. Bennett, “Evaluation of Conflict of Interest in Economic Analyses of New Drugs Used in Oncology,” Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 282, no. 15 (October 20, 1999), pp. 1453-1457.

  63 Dan Fagin and Marianne Lavelle, Toxic Deception (Secaucus, NJ: Birch Lane Press, 1996), pp. 51-52.

  64 Neil D. Rosenberg, “Love Makes the World Go ’Round, and Cologne May Offer Some Help,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 11, 1998, p. 1.

  CHAPTER 9: THE JUNKYARD DOGS

  Many of the documents cited in this chapter have been released into the public domain as a result of the legal settlement between the tobacco industry and U.S. state attorney generals. Each page of those documents has been assigned a unique “Bates number.” They can be accessed from the documents websites of Philip Morris (www.pmdocs. com) and R. J. Reynolds (www.rjrt.com).

  1 Michael A. Miles, Speech to the Economic Club of Chicago, February 9, 1993, Bates nos. 2501187852-2501187863.

  2 Peter Huber, Galileo’s Revenge: Junk Science in the Courtroom (New York, NY: Basic Books, 1991), pp. 2, 3.

  3 Ibid., p. 33.

  4 Memorandum from William M. H. Hammett, President, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, to All Civil Justice Contacts, January 7, 1987. Quoted in Kenneth J. Chesebro, “Galileo’s Retort: Peter Huber’s Junk Scholarship,” The American University Law Review, vol. 42, no. 4 (Summer 1993).

  5 Marc Galanter, “Pick a Number, Any Number,” Am. Law, April 1992, p. 84. Quoted in Chesebro, p. 1655.

  6 Colin Stokes, “RJR’s Support of Biomedical Research,” 1981, Bates nos. 503082904- 503082915.

  7 Memorandum from William M. H. Hammett, quoted in Chesebro. Chesebro notes that funding for Huber’s project at the Manhattan Institute comes from 14 of the nation’s largest insurance companies, 16 of the biggest chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturers, and 21 of the largest industrial manufacturers. It is work that pays well. In 1993, Chesebro points out, Huber and two other employees at the Manhattan Institute’s Judicial Studies Program were “slated to split $500,000 this year in salaries and benefits.”

  8 Peter Montague, “How They Lie, Pt. 3: The Alar Story,” Rachel’s Environment & Health Weekly, nos. 530-534 (January 23-February 20, 1997).

  9 Ibid.

  10 Howard Kurtz, “Dr. Whelan’s Media Operation,” Columbia Journalism Review, March/April 1990.

  11 Ibid.

  12 Janet Key, “Seeds of Debate Over Food Safety,” Chicago Tribune, March 19, 1989.

  13 H. S. Diehl, Tobacco and Your Health: The Smoking Controversy (1969), p. 1.

  14 Memo from Tobacco Institute vice president Fred Panzer to president Horace Kornegay, May 1, 1972. Cited in Richard W. Pollay, “Propaganda, Puffing and the Public Interest,” Public Relations Review, vol. XVI, no. 3, Fall 1990, p. 50.

  15 Mike Moore, Attorney General, State of Mississippi in lawsuit filed on May 23, 1994.

  16 Scott M. Cutlip, “The Tobacco Wars: A Matter of Public Relations Ethics,” Journal of Corporate Public Relations, vol. 3 (1992-1993), p. 28.

  17 Scott M. Cutlip, The Unseen Power: Public Relations: A History (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1994), p. 488.

  18 Pollay, pp. 45-49.

  19 Cutlip, The Unseen Power, p. 501.

  20 Ibid.

  21 Speech by Ellen Merlo to the Philip Morris USA vendor conference, January 25, 1994, Bates nos. 2024007050-2024007066.

  22 Corporate Affairs 1994 Budget Presentation, October 21, 1993 (overhead slides), Bates nos. 2046847121-2046847137.

  23 Covington and Burling (London), Report on the European Consultancy Program, March 1990, Bates nos. 2500048956-2500048969.

  24 Ibid.

  25 Ibid.

  26 Huber eventually switched sides, agreeing in 1998 to testify in court for plaintiffs against the tobacco industry. His motives for switching, he said, included the death of his father from a smoking-related lung disease. “My daughter came to me and said, ‘Dad, you’ve got to be careful. These guys are pimping you,’ ” he told NBC Nightly News reporter Bob Kur on March 4, 1998. For further details about Huber’s defection, see Lee Hancock and Mark Curriden, “Researcher’s Defection Sets Stage for Court Show-down With Tobacco Industry,” Buffalo News, January 4, 1998, p. 11A.

  27 For information about the institute’s pro-tobacco bias, see R. G. Dunlop, “Lawmakers Refuse Close Look at Institute,” Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY), July 31, 1996, p. 4A.

  28 “Study’s Tobacco Funding Hidden by School,” Austin American-Statesman, November 16, 1997, p. B5.

  29 Letter from Carrey Carruthers to Gary L. Huber, May 21, 1993, Bates nos. 2024233657-2024233658.

  30 Letter from Gary L. Huber to Anthony J. Andrade, September 27, 1993, Bates no. 2024233656.

  31 Proposal for the Organization of the Whitecoat Project, 1988, Bates nos. 2501474262- 2501474265.

  32 Corporate Affairs 1994 Budget Presentation, October 21, 1993, Bates nos. 2045521070-2045521111.

  33 Craig L. Fuller, February Monthly Report to Michael A. Miles (Philip Morris Interoffice Correspondence), March 17, 1994, Bates nos. 2041424310-2041424316.

  34 Task Force Review of Y&R ETS Materials, p. 1, Bates no. 2025835738.

  35 Ellen Merlo, letter and contract to Margery Kraus, March 3, 1993, Bates nos. 2045930469-2045930472.

  36 Victor Han, “Re: Burson/ETS,” memo to Ellen Merlo, February 22, 1993, Bates nos. 2023920035-2023920040.

  37 Ellen Merlo, Philip Morris Interoffice Correspondence, February 19, 1993, Bates nos. 2021252097-2021252110.

  38 Letter from Margery Kraus to Vic Han, September 23, 1993, Bates nos. 2024233677- 2024233682.

  39 APCO Associates, “Revised Plan for the Public Launching of TASSC (Through
1993),” October 15, 1993, Bates nos. 2045930493-2045930504.

  40 Jack Lenzi, “Re: TASSC Update,” note to Ellen Merlo, November 15, 1993, Bates no. 2024233664.

  41 Consumer Issues Program, Draft I., Bates nos. 2046039179-2046039194.

  42 “National Watchdog Organization Launched to Fight Unsound Science Comes to Texas” (news release), December 3, 1993, Bates nos. 2046988980-2046988982.

  43 Garry Carruthers and Donald Stedman, interview with KWMX 107.8-FM, “Mile High Magazine,” Denver, CO, November 21, 1993. Bates nos. 2046988927-2046988943.

  44 “Science: A Tool, Not a Weapon,” Draft Advertorial #1, 1993, Bates nos. 2023332314-2023332316.

  45 See, for example, “A Symposium: Doctors and Smoking: The Cigarette Century,” New York Times, April 10, 1986, in which Koop stated, “For most of the past 20 or 30 years, we’ve been focusing our attention primarily on the smoker. But cigarette smoking is a cloud that has no silver lining. Smokers engage in mainstream smoking; the sidestream smoker involuntarily inhales smoke in the ambient air. . . . Both the sidestream smoker and the mainstream smoker are breathing in the same 4,000 or so constituents of cigarette smoke. . . . This ought to be alarming news for the two-thirds of the American adult population who do not smoke—or who think they do not smoke. They may have saved themselves from the stink and the mess of smoking, but they have not completely protected themselves from all of the health hazards. And that is at the heart of the movement by nonsmokers to ban smoking in virtually every public space.”

  46 1994 Communications Plan, Bates nos. 2023918833-2023918852. See also Ellen Merlo, “Re: TASSC,” memo to Matthew Winokur, April 29, 1994, Bates no. 2024233594.

  47 Scientists for Sound Public Policy: Assessment Project and Symposium (slide presentation), Burson-Marsteller, Bates nos. 2028363773-2028363791.

  48 Jim Lindheim, “Scientist Group in Europe,” memorandum to David Greenberg and Matt Winokur, April 18, 1994, Bates nos. 2025493128-2025493129.

  49 Margery Kraus, “Re: Sound Science/Lindheim Meeting/Next Steps,” memorandum to David Greenberg and Matt Winoker, April 26, 1994, Bates nos. 2025493192- 2025493194.

  50 Tom Hockaday and Neal Cohen, “Re: Thoughts on TASSC Europe,” memorandum to Matthew Winokur, March 25, 1994, Bates nos. 2024233595-2024233602.

  51 Known corporate funders of ACSH have included American Cyanamid, American Meat Institute, Amoco, Anheuser-Busch, Archer Daniels Midland, Ashland Oil Foundation, Boise Cascade, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Burger King, Chevron, Ciba-Geigy, Coca-Cola, Consolidated Edison, Coors, Dow Chemical, DuPont, Exxon, Ford Motor Co., Frito-Lay, General Electric, General Mills, General Motors, Hershey Foods, Johnson & Johnson, Joseph E. Seagrams & Sons, the Kellogg Co., Kraft Foundation, Kraft General Foods, Merck Pharmaceuticals, Mobil, Monsanto, National Agricultural Chemicals Association, National Dairy Council, National Soft Drink Association, National Starch and Chemical Foundation, Nestlé, NutraSweet Co. (owned by Monsanto), Oscar Mayer Foods, Pepsi-Cola, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Shell Oil, Sugar Association, Union Carbide Corp., Uniroyal Chemical Co., USX Corp., and Wine Growers of California.

  52 Elizabeth M. Whelan, “Chemicals and Cancerphobia,” Society, March/April 1981, p. 7. Cited in Stephen Hilgartner, “The Political Language of Risk: Defining Occupational Health,” in Dorothy Nelkin, ed., The Language of Risk: Conflicting Perspectives on Occupational Health (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage), pp. 25-65.

  53 Daily Messenger, Canandauigua, NY, December 8, 1997.

  54 Scranton Times, Scranton, PA, September 12, 1997.

  55 Wall Street Journal, August 26, 1997.

  56 Record, Troy, NY, September 13, 1997.

  57 Orange County Register, July 14, 1997.

  58 Washington Times, June 18, 1997.

  59 Intelligencer, Wheeling, WV, January 16, 1998.

  60 Agri-News, Billings, MT, January 2, 1998.

  61 San Mateo County Times, San Mateo, CA, August 1, 1997.

  62 Houston Chronicle, Houston, TX, December 14, 1997.

  63 Frederick Stare, letter to H. R. R. Wakeham, December 5, 1980, Bates nos. 1000283163-1000283164.

  64 R. H. H. Wakeham, memorandum, January 5, 1981, Bates nos. 1000283166- 1000283167.

  65 Jane Fritsch, “Sometimes Lobbyists Strive to Keep Public in the Dark,” New York Times, March 19, 1996.

  66 Milloy claims that he has never personally engaged in lobbying. When pressed, he characterizes the EOP Group as a “regulatory consulting group” where all employees were registered as lobbyists “as a matter of course” in order to ensure compliance with federal law. According to the Legal Times, however, the EOP Group received $1,380,000 in lobby fees in 1997 alone. The Political Finance & Lobby Reporter gives some specific examples: “hired by Dow Elanco, Indianapolis, to lobby on legislation and regulations affecting the registration of pesticides; by the American Automobile Manufacturers Association, Washington, D.C., to lobby on global warming legislation; and by OHM Remediation Services Corp., Findlay, Ohio, to lobby with regard to a contract for toxic waste cleanup services.” The EOP Group’s methods of “regulatory consulting” featured prominently during the bribery and influence-peddling trial of former Clinton administration agriculture secretary Mike Espy, where it was disclosed that the EOP had hired Espy’s girlfriend at a salary of $35,000 per year, even though her performance was, in the company’s own estimation, “sporadic at best.” While lobbying for forgiveness of a $286 million penalty owed by one of its clients in 1994, the EOP Group paid a ticket scalper $6,600 so it could take Espy to the Super Bowl—a violation of federal ethics laws for which the client eventually paid a fine of $1 million. (Espy himself eventually beat the rap.)

  67 “TASSC Names Executive Director” (news release), PR Newswire, March 3, 1997.

  68 New Project (1993), Bates nos. 2046662829-2046662837.

  69 J. Boland and T. Borelli, “Monthly Budget Supplement Re: ETS/OSHA Federal Activities” (Philip Morris Interoffice Correspondence, February 17, 1993, Bates nos. 2046597149-2046597150.

  70 One of those reports, titled “Choices in Risk Assessment, the Role of Science Policy in the Environmental Risk Management Process,” was prepared for Sandia National Laboratories. University of California-San Francisco professor Stanton Glantz, a prominent critic of the tobacco industry, scrutinized the report in 1996, noting that it was “mentioned many times” by tobacco industry witnesses in government hearings. “The organizations used to provide information for the report,” he observed, “are dominated by industry associations which represent polluters (including the American Automobile Manufacturers Association, the American Petroleum Institute, the Chemical Manufacturers Association, the Halogenated Solvents Industry Association, the National Agricultural Chemicals Association, and many others). . . . Even though ‘Choices’ deals extensively with tobacco smoke as a science policy issue, they did not contact recognized governmental or previewed authorities in the preparation of the report (such as the Centers for Disease Control Office on Smoking and Health or various health groups such as the American Cancer Society).” Instead, “The authors of ‘Choices’ relied on several sources closely allied with the tobacco industry, including Philip Morris Companies, the Health Policy Institute, and ENVIRON Corporation.” Stanton Glantz, Post-OSHA Hearings Comments, 1996 , (July 25, 2000).

  71 Barry Meier, “Tobacco Industry, Conciliatory in U.S., Goes on the Attack in the Third World,” New York Times, January 18, 1998, section 1, p. 14.

  72 Elizabeth Whelan, “Secondhand Facts?” (letter to the editor), National Review, July 28, 1997.

  73 “Heritage, Brookings Get Top Rankings,” O’Dwyer’s Washington Report, vol. 9, no. 17, August 23, 1999, p. 4.

  74 “Junk Science Makes Junk Law” (New York Times advertisement), Washington Legal Foundation, February 10, 1997.

  75 “Tobacco Strategy,” Bates nos. 2022887066-2022887072.

  76 Neal Smith, “Organic Foods Can Make You Sick,” Des Moines Register, March 1
2, 1999.

  77 The Human Cost of Regulation: Reframing the Debate on Risk Management, Competitive Enterprise Institute, 1994, Bates nos. 2047099454-2047099464.

  78 Thomas Borelli, “February Activity Report,” Philip Morris Interoffice Correspondence to Jim Botticelli, February 1, 1994, Bates nos. 2046585282-2046585283.

  79 Karen Anderson, “One Man’s Demented Vision Becomes a Nation’s Nightmare,” The DeWeese Report, vol. 3, no. 12 (December 1997), p. 1.

  80 Ellen Merlo, “Burson/ETS,” memo to Victor Han, February 22, 1993, Bates nos. 2023920035-2023920040.

  81 Holcomb B. Noble, “Hailed as a Surgeon General, Koop Criticized on Web Ethics,” New York Times, September 4, 1999.