Whether it be pollution, cancer, heart attack, or global warming, companies and scientists exist who will argue the effect is not related to the product. These 'product defense teams' are well funded for when money is concerned corporate officers are only too willing to create doubt. Examples abound: tobacco, aspirin use in children, Rofecoxib, alcohol use during pregnancy, acid rain, Beryllium, phenylpropanolamine, and on and on. Today any form of regulation is met with a Pavlovian response from a large segment of the population. It's seen as just another example of government regulation interfering in free market dynamics. The message here is so strong, a whole network of people come forward to defend industry over government and over people's health. It demonstrates the power of ideological propaganda over science, even over common sense.
This propagandist control is exhibited in other areas of American business culture as well. Take the outsourcing of American jobs as another example. Uncertainty and insecurity are created by claiming it is necessary for the survival of the company. Or the outsourcing is part of the new business model. Blame is created by pointing to taxes, unions, or government regulation as causes. Detailed information is contained in the books listed below.
Sources and information for the concerned citizen.
'Manufactured Uncertainty: Contested Science And The Protection Of The Public's Health and Environment, David Michaels
Above essay contained in 'Agnotology: The Making and Unmaking of Ignorance' Robert Proctor, Londa Schiebinger
'Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming' Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. M. Conway
'The Betrayal of the American Dream' Donald L. Barlett, James B. Steele
'Invisible Hands: The Businessmen's Crusade Against the New Deal' Kim Phillips-Fein
"Corporate propaganda directed outwards, that is, to the public at large, has two main objectives: to identify the free enterprise system in popular consciousness with every cherished value, and to identify interventionist governments and strong unions (the only agencies capable of checking a complete domination of society by corporations) with tyranny, oppression and even subversion. The techniques used to achieve these results are variously called 'public relations', 'corporate communications' and 'economic education'." Alex Carey 'Taking the Risk out of Democracy'
This propagandist control is exhibited in other areas of American business culture as well. Take the outsourcing of American jobs as another example. Uncertainty and insecurity are created by claiming it is necessary for the survival of the company. Or the outsourcing is part of the new business model. Blame is created by pointing to taxes, unions, or government regulation as causes. Detailed information is contained in the books listed below.
Sources and information for the concerned citizen.
'Manufactured Uncertainty: Contested Science And The Protection Of The Public's Health and Environment, David Michaels
Above essay contained in 'Agnotology: The Making and Unmaking of Ignorance' Robert Proctor, Londa Schiebinger
'Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming' Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. M. Conway
'The Betrayal of the American Dream' Donald L. Barlett, James B. Steele
'Invisible Hands: The Businessmen's Crusade Against the New Deal' Kim Phillips-Fein
"Corporate propaganda directed outwards, that is, to the public at large, has two main objectives: to identify the free enterprise system in popular consciousness with every cherished value, and to identify interventionist governments and strong unions (the only agencies capable of checking a complete domination of society by corporations) with tyranny, oppression and even subversion. The techniques used to achieve these results are variously called 'public relations', 'corporate communications' and 'economic education'." Alex Carey 'Taking the Risk out of Democracy'
