[greenyes] Corporate PR Campaigns Against Regulation

["Peter Anderson" <anderson@no.address>]

AUSTIN AMERICAN STATESMAN

New product for U.S. industry: 'manufactured doubt'
Industries growing adept at manipulating science to suit their needs
By Jeff Nesmith

WASHINGTON BUREAU

Sunday, June 26, 2005

WASHINGTON - In the 1970s, facing the loss of millions of dollars in sales 
because of fears that chemicals it produced were shredding the Earth's 
protective ozone layer, DuPont Corp. fought for time.

It got what it wanted.

A carefully designed campaign by the Hill and Knowlton public relations firm 
attacked the science behind the ozone depletion fears and delayed government 
action for two years, enough time for DuPont to bring new, ozone-friendly 
chemicals to market.

The campaign employed a tactic that is now being used by more and more 
industries to ward off costly government action, says George Washington 
University epidemiologist David Michaels.

He calls it "manufactured doubt."

By generating and publicizing uncertainty about the scientific underpinnings 
of proposed action on air pollution, global warming, the health effects of 
tobacco and other subjects, industries have been able to ward off regulation 
and buy valuable time, Michaels said.

Now, with the Bush administration's skepticism about regulation, the 
"manufactured doubt" tactic is more effective than ever before, Michaels 
wrote in the current edition of Scientific American.

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FOR FULL ARTICLE: 
http://www.statesman.com/search/content/insight/stories/06/26doubt.html


_________________________
Peter Anderson, President
RECYCLEWORLDS CONSULTING
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Ph: (608) 231-1100
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Cell: (608) 698-1314
eMail: anderson@no.address
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