"Doubt is our product," a cigarette executive once observed, "since it is the best means of competing with the 'body of fact' that exists in the minds of the general public. It is also the means of establishing a controversy."
In this eye-opening expose, David Michaels reveals how the tobacco industry's duplicitous tactics spawned a multimillion dollar industry that is dismantling public health safeguards. Product defense consultants, he argues, have increasingly skewed the scientific literature, manufactured and magnified scientific uncertainty, and influenced policy decisions to the advantage of polluters and the manufacturers of dangerous products. To keep the public confused about the hazards posed by global warming, second-hand smoke, asbestos, lead, plastics, and many other toxic materials, industry executives have hired unscrupulous scientists and lobbyists to dispute scientific evidence about health risks. In doing so, they have not only delayed action on specific hazards, but they have constructed barriers to make it harder for lawmakers, government agencies, and courts to respond to future threats. The Orwellian strategy of dismissing research conducted by the scientific community as "junk science" and elevating science conducted by product defense specialists to "sound science" status also creates confusion about the very nature of scientific inquiry and undermines the public's confidence in science's ability to address public health and environmental concerns Such reckless practices have long existed, but Michaels argues that the Bush administration deepened the dysfunction by virtually handing over regulatory agencies to the very corporate powers whose products and behavior they are charged with overseeing.
In Doubt Is Their Product Michaels proves, beyond a doubt, that our regulatory system has been broken. He offers concrete, workable suggestions for how it can be restored by taking the politics out of science and ensuring that concern for public safety, rather than private profits, guides our regulatory policy.


Named one of the best Sci-Tech books of 2008 by Library Journal!...

Several disastrous missions have depleted the ranks of the Splinter Cells. Third Echelon is training new recruits when a stunning piece of evidence is uncovered. Evidence that points to the mole who sold out his government...Sam Fisher, Splinter Cell(r) operative.

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It's not just a game anymore-read the explosive new book series based on the video game Splinter Cell(tm).

In response to the growing use of sophisticated digital encryption to conceal potential threats to the United States, the National Security Agency has ushered forth the new dawn of intelligence-gathering techniques. The top-secret initiative is dubbed Third Echelon.

Its existence denied by the US government, Third Echelon deploys a lone field operative. He is sharp, invisible, and deadly. He has the right to spy, steal, destroy, and assassinate to protect American freedoms. His name is Sam Fisher. He is a Splinter Cell(tm). Sam Fisher works alone. But fights for us all....

A new phenomenon begins.

Created by #1 New York Times bestselling author Tom Clancy

Based on the bestselling video game, this new series will take readers onto the battlefields of World War III with the technical savvy and explosive action that Clancy fans have come to expect....

The U.S. Army’s Special Forces are known for their highly specialized training and courage behind enemy lines. But there’s a group that’s even more stealthy and deadly. It’s comprised of the most feared operators on the face of the earth—the soldiers of Ghost Recon....

Third Echlon operative Same Fisher knows that several disastrous missions have depleted the ranks of the Splinter Cells. What he doesn't know is that a stunning piece of evidence has been uncovered that points to the mole who sold out his government...

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The skies will never be the same...

Never before published.

Just as Troy Loensch comes into his own as a pilot with the United States Air Force, a private military contractor called Firehawk takes over. Troy isn't happy with the arrangement-and neither is the CIA. And when they ask Troy for help investigating Firehawk, he accepts-with explosive consequences......