Why Trust Science?

by Naomi Oreskes

  ________. Lead Wars: The Politics of Science and the Fate of America’s Children. 1st edition. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013.

  McHenry, Leemon B. “The Monsanto Papers: Poisoning the Scientific Well.” International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine 29, no. 3–4 (January 1, 2018): 193–205. https://doi.org/10.3233/JRS-180028.

  Michaels, David. Doubt Is Their Product: How Industry’s Assault on Science Threatens Your Health. 1st edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.

  Michaels, David, and Celeste Monforton. “Manufacturing Uncertainty: Contested Science and the Protection of the Public’s Health and Environment.” American Journal of Public Health 95, no. S1 (July 1, 2005): S39–48. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2004.043059.

  Mooney, Chris. “Ted Cruz Keeps Saying That Satellites Don’t Show Global Warming. Here’s the Problem.” Washington Post, January 29, 2016. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/01/29/ted-cruz-keeps-saying-that-satellites-dont-show-warming-heres-the-problem/.

  Myers, John Peterson, Frederick S. vom Saal, Benson T. Akingbemi, Koji Arizono, Scott Belcher, Theo Colborn, Ibrahim Chahoud, et al. “Why Public Health Agencies Cannot Depend on Good Laboratory Practices as a Criterion for Selecting Data: The Case of Bisphenol A.” Environmental Health Perspectives 117, no. 3 (March 2009): 309–15. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.0800173.

  Nosek, Brian A., and D. Stephen Lindsay. “Preregistration Becoming the Norm in Psychological Science.” APS Observer 31, no. 3 (February 28, 2018). https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/preregistration-becoming-the-norm-in-psychological-science.

  Oppenheimer, Michael, Naomi Oreskes, Dale Jamieson, Keynyn Brysse, Jessica O’Reilly, Matthew Shindell, and Milena Wazeck. Discerning Experts: The Practices of Scientific Assessment for Environmental Policy. First edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2019.

  Oransky, Author Ivan. “Retracted Seralini GMO-Rat Study Republished.” Retraction Watch (blog), June 24, 2014. http://retractionwatch.com/2014/06/24/retracted-seralini-gmo-rat-study-republished/.

  Oreskes, Naomi. “Reconciling Representation with Reality: Unitisation as an Example for Science and Public Policy.” The Politics of Scientific Advice: Institutional Design for Quality Assurance, January 1, 2011, 36–53. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511777141.003.

  ________. Science on a Mission: American Oceanography from the Cold War to Climate Change. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2020.

  Oreskes, Naomi, Daniel Carlat, Michael E. Mann, Paul D. Thacker, and Frederick S. vom Saal. “Viewpoint: Why Disclosure Matters.” Environmental Science & Technology 49, no. 13 (July 7, 2015): 7527–28. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b02726.

  Oreskes, Naomi, and Erik M. Conway. Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. Reprint edition. New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2011.

  “Oxford Reproducibility Lectures: Dorothy Bishop.” NeuroAnaTody. Accessed January 1, 2019. http://neuroanatody.com/2017/11/oxford-reproducibility-lectures-dorothy-bishop/.

  “Perceptions of Science in America.” The Public Face of Science. American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2018. https://www.amacad.org/publication/perceptions-science-america.

  Phillips, Lee. “The Female Mathematician Who Changed the Course of Physics—but Couldn’t Get a Job.” Ars Technica, May 26, 2015. https://arstechnica.com/science/2015/05/the-female-mathematician-who-changed-the-course-of-physics-but-couldnt-get-a-job/.

  Pickrell, John. “How Fake Fossils Pervert Paleontology.” Scientific American. Accessed January 14, 2019. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-fake-fossils-pervert-paleontology-excerpt/.

  Pope Francis. Encyclical on Climate Change and Inequality. Melville Press, 2015. https://www.mhpbooks.com/books/encyclical-on-climate-change-and-inequality/.

  Proctor, Robert N. Value-Free Science?: Purity and Power in Modern Knowledge. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991.

  ________. Golden Holocaust: Origins of the Cigarette Catastrophe and the Case for Abolition. 1st edition. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012.

  “Retraction Watch.” Retraction Watch. Accessed January 14, 2019. https://retractionwatch.com/.

  Richardson, Valerie. “Climate Change Whistleblower Alleges NOAA Manipulated Data to Hide Global Warming ‘Pause.’ ” Washington Times, February 5, 2017. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/feb/5/climate-change-whistleblower-alleges-noaa-manipula/.

  Risbey, James S., Stephan Lewandowsky, Clothilde Langlais, Didier P. Monselesan, Terence J. O’Kane, and Naomi Oreskes. “Well-Estimated Global Surface Warming in Climate Projections Selected for ENSO Phase.” Nature Climate Change 4, no. 9 (September 2014): 835–40. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2310.

  Risbey, James S., Stephan Lewandowsky, Kevin Cowtan, Naomi Oreskes, Stefan Rahmstorf, Ari Jokimäki, and Grant Foster. “A Fluctuation in Surface Temperature in Historical Context: Reassessment and Retrospective on the Evidence.” Environmental Research Letters 13, no. 12 (2018): 123008. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748–9326/aaf342.

  Saal, Frederick S. vom, Benson T. Akingbemi, Scott M. Belcher, David A. Crain, David Crews, Linda C. Guidice, Patricia A. Hunt, et al. “Flawed Experimental Design Reveals the Need for Guidelines Requiring Appropriate Positive Controls in Endocrine Disruption Research.” Toxicological Sciences 115, no. 2 (June 2010): 612–13. https://doi.org/10.1093/toxsci/kfq048.

  Siegel, Donald I., Nicholas A. Azzolina, Bert J. Smith, A. Elizabeth Perry, and Rikka L. Bothun. “Methane Concentrations in Water Wells Unrelated to Proximity to Existing Oil and Gas Wells in Northeastern Pennsylvania.” Environmental Science & Technology 49, no. 7 (April 7, 2015): 4106–12. https://doi.org/10.1021/es505775c.

  Steen, R. Grant, Arturo Casadevall, and Ferric C. Fang. “Why Has the Number of Scientific Retractions Increased?” PLOS ONE 8, no. 7 (July 8, 2013): e68397. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0068397.

  Taylor, James. “Global Warming Pause Extends Underwhelming Warming.” Heartland Institute, August 8, 2014. https://www.heartland.org/news-opinion/news/global-warming-pause-extends-underwhelming-warming.

  Tollefson, Jeff. “Earth Science Wrestles with Conflict-of-Interest Policies.” Nature News 522, no. 7557 (June 25, 2015): 403. https://doi.org/10.1038/522403a.

  Wazeck, Milena. Einstein’s Opponents: The Public Controversy about the Theory of Relativity in the 1920s. Translated by Geoffrey S. Koby. 1st edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014.

  Wolfe, Robert M., and Lisa K. Sharp. “Anti-Vaccinationists Past and Present.” BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.) 325, no. 7361 (August 24, 2002): 430–32.

  Yong, Ed. “Psychology’s Replication Crisis Is Running out of Excuses.” Atlantic, November 19, 2018. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/11/psychologys-replication-crisis-real/576223/.

  Afterword

  “Age-Specific Relevance of Usual Blood Pressure to Vascular Mortality: A Meta-Analysis of Individual Data for One Million Adults in 61 Prospective Studies.” Lancet 360, no. 9349 (December 14, 2002): 1903–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140–6736(02)11911–8.

  Bastasch, Michael, and Ryan Maue. “Take a Look at the New ‘Consensus’ on Global Warming.” Cato Institute, June 21, 2017. https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/take-look-new-consensus-global-warming.

  Becker, Katie. “10 American Beauty Ingredients That Are Banned in Other Countries.” Cosmopolitan, November 8, 2016. https://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/beauty/g7597249/banned-cosmetic-ingredients/.

  Cancer Council Australia. “Position Statement—Sun Exposure and Vitamin D—Risks and Benefits—National Cancer Control Policy.” National Cancer Control Policy. Accessed January 20, 2019. https://wiki.cancer.org.au/policy/Position_statement_-_Risks_and_benefits_of_sun_exposure#_ga=2.151372857.1466774130.1547753555–1991479126.1547753555.

  Cancer Council Australia. “SunSmart.” Cancer Council Australia. Accessed January 20, 2019. https://www.cancer.org.au/polic
y-and-advocacy/position-statements/sun-smart/.

  Carey, Kevin. “A Peek Inside the Strange World of Fake Academia.” The New York Times, December 22, 2017.

  CFR—Code of Federal Regulations, Title 21, Sec. 352.10. Accessed January 19, 2019. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/cfrsearch.cfm?fr=352.10.

  Consensus Development Panel. “National Institutes of Health Summary of the Consensus Development Conference on Sunlight, Ultraviolet Radiation, and the Skin. Bethesda, Maryland, May 8–10, 1989.” Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, no. 24 (1991): 608–12.

  C-SPAN. Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) Snowball in the Senate. Accessed January 19, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E0a_60PMR8.

  Downs, C. A., Esti Kramarsky-Winter, Roee Segal, John Fauth, Sean Knutson, Omri Bronstein, Frederic R. Ciner, et al. “Toxicopathological Effects of the Sunscreen UV Filter, Oxybenzone (Benzophenone-3), on Coral Planulae and Cultured Primary Cells and Its Environmental Contamination in Hawaii and the U.S. Virgin Islands.” Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 70, no. 2 (February 1, 2016): 265–88. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-015-0227-7.

  Gabbard, Mike, Donna Mercado Kim, Laura Thielen, Les Ihara, Clarence Nishihara, and Brickwood Galuteria. Relating to Water Pollution, SB2571 SD2 HD2 CD1 § (2021). https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/Archives/measure_indiv_Archives.aspx?billtype=SB&billnumber=2571&year=2018.

  Ghosh, Amitav. The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable. 1st edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017.

  Gross, Paul R., and Norman Levitt. Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science. Reprint edition. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997.

  “IARC Monographs Volume 112: Evaluation of Five Organophosphate Insecticides and Herbicides.” IARC Monographs. International Agency for Research on Cancer, March 20, 2015.

  Jacobsen, Rowan. “Is Sunshine the New Margarine?” Outside Online, January 10, 2019. https://www.outsideonline.com/2380751/sunscreen-sun-exposure-skin-cancer-science.

  Jacobson, Louis. “Did Trump Say Climate Change Was a Chinese Hoax?” Politifact. June 3, 2016. https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jun/03/hillary-clinton/yes-donald-trump-did-call-climate-change-chinese-h/.

  Lindqvist, P. G., E. Epstein, K. Nielsen, M. Landin-Olsson, C. Ingvar, and H. Olsson. “Avoidance of Sun Exposure as a Risk Factor for Major Causes of Death: A Competing Risk Analysis of the Melanoma in Southern Sweden Cohort.” Journal of Internal Medicine 280, no. 4 (2016): 375–87. https://doi.org/10.1111/joim.12496.

  Mooney, Chris. “Ted Cruz Keeps Saying That Satellites Don’t Show Global Warming. Here’s the Problem.” Washington Post. Accessed January 19, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/01/29/ted-cruz-keeps-saying-that-satellites-dont-show-warming-heres-the-problem/.

  Oberhaus, Daniel. “Hundreds of Researchers from Top Universities Were Published in Fake Academic Journals.” Vice, August 14, 2018.

  Oppenheimer, Michael, Naomi Oreskes, Dale Jamieson, Keynyn Brysse, Jessica O’Reilly, Matthew Shindell, and Milena Wazeck. Discerning Experts: The Practices of Scientific Assessment for Environmental Policy. First edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2019.

  “Oxybenzone—Substance Information.” ECHA. Accessed January 19, 2019. https://echa.europa.eu/substance-information/-/substanceinfo/100.004.575.

  Perez, Marco I., Vijaya M. Musini, and James M. Wright. “Effect of Early Treatment with Anti-Hypertensive Drugs on Short and Long-Term Mortality in Patients with an Acute Cardiovascular Event.” Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, no. 4 (October 7, 2009): CD006743. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD006743.pub2.

  Pomerantsev, Peter. “Why We’re Post-Fact.” Granta Magazine (blog), July 20, 2016. https://granta.com/why-were-post-fact/.

  “Predatory Conference.” Wikipedia. Accessed April 19, 2019. en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Predatory_conference&oldid=893730268.

  Rudwick, Martin J. S. The Great Devonian Controversy: The Shaping of Scientific Knowledge among Gentlemanly Specialists. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988.

  Schneider, Samantha L., and Henry W. Lim. “Review of Environmental Effects of Oxybenzone and Other Sunscreen Active Ingredients.” Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology 80, no. 1 (January 1, 2019): 266–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2018.06.033.

  Smith, Tara C. “Vaccine Rejection and Hesitancy: A Review and Call to Action.” Open Forum Infectious Diseases 4, no. 3 (July 18, 2017). https://doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofx146.

  “Sunscreen Fact Sheet.” British Association of Dermatologists. Accessed January 20, 2019. http://www.bad.org.uk/for-the-public/skin-cancer/sunscreen-fact-sheet#sun-safety-tips.

  “Tobacco Companies Ordered to Place Statements about Products’ Dangers on Websites and Cigarette Packs.” Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, January 5, 2018. www.tabaccofreekids.org/press-releases/2018_05_01_correctivestatements.

  Trump, Donald J. “The Concept of Global Warming Was Created by and for the Chinese in Order to Make U.S. Manufacturing Non-Competitive.” Tweet. @realDonaldTrump (blog), November 6, 2012. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/265895292191248385.

  “United States v. Philip Morris (D.O.J. Lawsuit).” Public Health Law Center. Accessed May 29, 2019. http://publichealthlawcenter.org/topics/tobacco-control/tobacco-control-litigation/united-states-v-philip-morris-doj-lawsuit.

  Wang, Jiaying, Liumeng Pan, Shenggan Wu, Liping Lu, Yiwen Xu, Yanye Zhu, Ming Guo, and Shulin Zhuang. “Recent Advances on Endocrine Disrupting Effects of UV Filters.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 13, no. 8 (August 2016). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13080782.

  “Where Is Glyphosate Banned?” Baum Hedlund Aristei Goldman (blog), November 2018. https://www.baumhedlundlaw.com/toxic-tort-law/monsanto-roundup-lawsuit/where-is-glyphosate-banned/.

  Zurcher, Anthony. “Does Trump Still Think It’s All a Hoax?,” BBC News, June 2, 2017, sec. US and Canada. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40128034.

  CONTRIBUTORS

  Naomi Oreskes is professor of the history of science and affiliated professor of earth and planetary sciences at Harvard University. An internationally renowned geologist, science historian, and author, Oreskes is a leading voice on the role of science in society and the issue of anthropogenic climate change. She is the author of both scholarly and popular books and articles, including The Rejection of Continental Drift, Plate Tectonics: An Insider’s History of the Modern Theory of the Earth, Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming, and The Collapse of Western Civilization: A View from the Future.

  Jon A. Krosnick is Frederick O. Glover Professor in Humanities and Social Sciences and professor of communication, political science, and (by courtesy) psychology at Stanford University. He is director of Stanford’s Political Psychology Research Group and research psychologist at the US Census Bureau. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  Susan Lindee is the Janice and Julian Bers Professor of the History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania. Most recently, she is the author of Moments of Truth in Genetic Medicine.

  Marc Lange is the Theda Perdue Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Most recently, he is the author of Because without Cause: Non-Causal Explanations in Science and Mathematics.

  Ottmar Edenhofer is director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, and is professor of the economics of climate change at Technical University Berlin. He is also director of the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change and adviser to the World Bank.

  Martin Kowarsch is head of the working group on Scientific Assessments, Ethics, and Public Policy at Mercator Research Institute. His work focuses on the interface of science, policy, and society, as well as on values
and ethics in integrated environmental assessments.

  Stephen Macedo is the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Politics and the former director of the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University. His books include Liberal Virtues: Citizenship, Virtue, and Community in Liberal Constitutionalism, Diversity and Distrust: Civic Education in a Multicultural Democracy, the coauthored Democracy at Risk: How Political Choices Undermine Citizen Participation, and What We Can Do about It, and Just Married: Same-Sex Couples, Monogamy, and the Future of Marriage (Princeton). He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

  INDEX

  absolutism, 46, 48

  acupuncture, 62

  Adolescence (Hall), 80

  aerodynamics, 220–21

  Against Method (Feyerabend), 47

  Aim and Structure of Physical Theory, The (Duhem), 33

  air pollution, 194

  Aldredge, Wayne, 126

  Allen, Garland, 101–2

  alternative facts, 245

  American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 217

  American Association for the Advancement of Science, 177

  American Chemical Society, 177

  American Civil War, 19

  American Dental Association, 126

  American Enterprise Institute, 12, 17–18, 182, 222

  American Museum of Natural History, 91

  American Philosophical Society (APS), 172

  American Society of Microbiology, 177

  Amgen Pharmaceuticals, 205–6, 236, 242–43

  anthropologists, 23, 48, 55, 57, 62, 96, 247

  anti-intellectualism, 165

  Applied Physics Laboratory, 169–70

  Associated Press (AP), 118–20

  AstraZeneca, 241

  Atomic Energy Commission, 170, 285n14

  attitude polarization and, 204–5

  Australian Cancer Council, 253