Short book frank in blasting 'junk science'
By Mark Hofman
Copyright 1999 Business Insurance
April 5, 1999
"Silencing Science"
By Steven Milloy and Michael Gough
Published by the Cato Institute, 1000 Massachusetts Ave.,
N.W., Washington D.C. 20001; 800-767-1241
$8
Although this slender paperback doesn't address risk
management directly, it's
sure to raise more than a
few bemused chuckles from risk managers, particularly those who've
ever had a
run-in with "junk science."
Junk science, according to authors Steven
Milloy and Michael Gough, "is exaggerated or overinterpreted
science used to advance
some predetermined, often politically correct, politically desired,
or
financially lucrative conclusion.
In the best light,
junk science is poor science; in the worst light, it is fraud."
Messrs.
Milloy and Gough aren't exactly the type to mince words. Mr.
Milloy publishes the
Junk Science Home Page (http://www.junkscience.com), and Mr. Gough
recently retired as
director of science and risk studies at the Cato Institute.
The Cato Institute, which published the book, is a
Washington-based libertarian think tank that advocates free market
capitalism
and limited government.
In addition to citing cases of
junk science, the authors cite instance after instance where an
interest group or government
agency attempted-and in some cases succeeded-to suppress scientific
findings
with which
it wasn't pleased, and the cost to the public be damned. They
detail how the
creative use of lawsuits has stopped scientific research dead in
its tracks,
even when the research happened to be undertaken by an institution
as
prestigious as the Mayo Clinic. They show how interested parties
can apply
pressure to the private and
public bodies that fund scientific research to squelch inquiries
they don't
want to proceed.
So why should risk managers, or any other non-scientists,
care about this sort
of thing? Because, as the authors noted, "this 'silencing' is much
more than
an academic concern. Because we-all of us-are robbed of the
benefits of true
science."
That's
a good reason both philosophical and practical for spending the
hour or so
needed to read this book. Even though the Supreme Court recently
imposed new
safeguards against the use of "expert" testimony in its decision in
Kumho
Tire Ltd. et al. vs. Patrick
Carmichael et al., dubious science is sure to seep into some
courtroom
sometime, and some risk manager is going to find his employer being
sued under
a dubious theory.
Readers who subscribe to the ancient doctrine of "Know your
enemy" can do far
worse in trying to
understand that enemy by reading this slender volume.
Mark A. Hofmann is the Washington editor of Business
Insurance.
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