The Good News and The Bad News

The bad news is that Conservatives and their Republican politicians have created Bad Science. Before the Tobacco Industry started defending smoking, there was only science. Since the 1950s, business and industry have been fighting against any attempt to use science to make them change what they are doing. They use every possible type of fallacy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies) to discredit science and scientists.  They even published a resource book to help others use their tactics called “Bad Science: A Resource Book.” 

The good news is that science historians have documented this conspiracy in the book “Merchants of Doubt.”  They have shown that the demand for scientific proof is always a fallacy to delay and cause inaction.  The authors show that Conservatives are attempting to paralyze the federal government in order to protect America from communists and socialists, who are not a threat and in fact the enemy is inaction.

Science is not fair or unfair, debated or not debatable, Science is not individuals working alone, not based on competition and not biased toward liberal or conservative ideology.  Science is not political or religious.  Science is not based on opinion or ideals.

Modern science is a process of cooperation and collaboration.  Scientific ideas must be supported by evidence that must be independently verified and validated.  Scientific ideas must be judged by a jury of scientific peers.  Science fights against inequity.  Science fights against injustice.

For example, the fight against Acid Rain is described in “Merchants of Doubt” (page 103).  The cost of air pollution control was between $8 and $9 billion while the benefits were estimated from $101 to $119 billion - more than ten times higher than the costs.  Pollution prevention is a public good and not dealt with well in the market price of goods and services.  Competitive forces don’t provide sufficient justification for the long term investment required because there is a lack of demand.  Government creates demand when a regulation is established.

There are other methods besides regulation that economists support, especially those supporting Conservative policies.  However empirical evidence shows that regulation provides the strongest and most long-lasting stimulus for entrepreneurs.

There is no such thing as bad science, there is only science.  America needs more regulation to reduce pollution and promote the common welfare.  Environmental regulations will create jobs and grow the economy.

¹ Bad Science: A Resource Book, 26 March 1993. Bates Number (BN): 2074143969. Legacy Tobacco Documents Library.

² 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. New York: Bloomsbury, 2010. Print.