: Using "think tanks" or grassroots-sounding organizations (astroturfing) that are funded by the very industries they are defending. Modern Targets
: Promoting individuals with scientific credentials in unrelated fields to comment authoritatively on complex topics like atmospheric physics or epidemiology.
: Funding "alternative" research to downplay the human impact on global temperatures. Merchant Of Doubt Watch
: Highlighting a single cooling year in a century-long warming trend to argue that global warming has stopped.
: Lobbying against regulations by questioning the direct health links to chemical exposure. Why the Watch Matters : Highlighting a single cooling year in a
: Demanding a level of "certainty" that is impossible in any field of science to dismiss existing consensus.
: Utilizing the old tobacco playbook to suggest that newer products are entirely risk-free. : Utilizing the old tobacco playbook to suggest
While the original research by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway focused on tobacco, acid rain, and the ozone hole, today’s "Merchant of Doubt Watch" has expanded its scope to include: