Public Understanding of Science

Book Review| January 01 2011 PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. By Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway. 2010. Bloomsbury Press, New York (ISBN 7981596916104). 355 pp. Hardcover. 27. 00. Douglas Allchin Douglas Allchin 2 1Research Associate, The Minnesota Center for the Philosophy of Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 54455 2e-mail: allchin@sacredbovines. net Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar 2e-mail: allchin@sacredbovines. net The American Biology Teacher (2011) 73 (1): 51–52. https: //doi. org/10. 1525/abt. 2011. 73. 1. 11. b Views Icon Views Article contents Figures PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE. The American Biology Teacher 1 January 2011; 73 (1): 51–52. doi: https: //doi. org/10. 1525/abt. 2011. 73. 1. 11. b Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentThe American Biology Teacher Search Michael Behe, William Demski, Duane Gish – biology teachers often know these names (notorious creationists). But what about Fred Seitz, Fred Singer, Robert Jastrow, Bill Nierenberg, or Steve Milloy? These less widely known individuals posed equal threats to good science. In their eye-opening book, historians Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway detail how these individuals (and others) deliberately orchestrated public skepticism about scientific consensus on tobacco, nuclear winter, acid rain, the ozone hole, second-hand smoke, global warming, and DDT. Time and time again, the same cast of characters effectively stalled timely political action. These critics were scientists, but scientists speaking outside their expertise. As the book documents, they were also typically funded by conservative organizations. They strove to defend “freedom” – free markets and Cold War conceptions of liberty – by confounding science that might justify government regulation. Understanding this type of abuse of science is critical to scientific literacy. This. . . You do not currently have access to this content.