Real Junk Science: the Corruption of Science by Corporate Money

Abstract

Barry Commoner's eightieth birthday is an occasion to look at the phenomenon of junk corporate science, which must be viewed in the context of the power game. Bought-and-paid-for scientists are instruments of corporate power used in the pursuit of profits to ward off the mobilization of the citizenry and the application of regulatory health and safety laws. This is the real junk science whose many examples illustrate the intensity and aggressiveness of the corporate campaign. To better know it when we face it, we have identified specific mechanisms that corporations use to deliver their commercial science: the media, politicians by campaign financing, the colleges and universities, obstruction of litigation (including SLAPP suits), corporate front groups, and such trade agreements as GATT and NAFTA. We need community-based scientific, engineering, and civic institutions to develop intelligent and honest research and to wisely apply scientific knowledge. Barry Commoner has helped set the standard for such sound science.