Rescuing Science from Politics
Regulation and the Distortion of Scientific Research

This book examines how dominant interest groups manipulate the available science to support their positions.

Wendy Wagner (Edited by), Rena Steinzor (Edited by)

9780521855204, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 24 July 2006

330 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm, 0.65 kg

"This book does an excellent job of flagging the concerns and pointing us in the right direction toward reform."
Jeffrey C. Lerner, Ph.D. Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania

Rescuing Science from Politics debuts chapters by the nation's leading academics in law, science, and philosophy who explore ways that the law can be abused by special interests to intrude on the way scientists conduct research. The high stakes and adversarial features of regulation create the worst possible climate for the honest production and use of science especially by those who will ultimately bear the cost of the resulting regulatory standards. Yet an in-depth exploration of the ways in which dominant interest groups distort the available science to support their positions has received little attention in the academic or popular literature. The book begins by establishing non-controversial principles of good scientific practice. These principles then serve as the benchmark against which each chapter author compares how science is misused in a specific regulatory setting and assist in isolating problems in the integration of science by the regulatory process.

Prologue Donald Kennedy
Introduction: principled science Wendy Wagner and Rena Steinzor
Part I. Freedom and Independence: 1. Defending clean science from dirty attacks Thomas McGarity
2. Basic science at risk: protecting the independence of research Katherine S. Squibb
3. Publication bas, data ownership and the funding effect in science: threats to the integrity of biomedical research Sheldon Krimsky
4. Science and subpoenas: when do the courts become instruments of manipulation? Paul M. Fischer
Part II. Transparency and Honesty: 5. Smothering the future: the data quality act and adaptive governance Donald Hornstein
6. The dual legacy of Daubert v. Merrell-Dow Pharmaceutical: trading junk science for junk science Carl Cranor
7. Using science in a political world: the importance of transparency in natural resource regulation Holly Doremus
8. Two models for scientific transparency in environmental law David Adelman
9. The transformation of science into law: default reasoning in international trade disputes Vern R. Walker
Part III. Public Infrastructure: 10. Politicizing Peer Review: the scientific perspective David Michaels
11. Politicizing peer review: the legal perspective Sidney Shapiro
12. The government role in scientific research John S. Applegate
Part IV. Recommendations and conclusion Wendy Wagner, J.D. and Rena Steinzor, J.D.

Subject Areas: Environmental science, engineering & technology [TQ], International environmental law [LBBP]