Recorded presentation

David Michaels, MPH, PhD, Center for Risk Science and Public Health, George Washington University Medical Center, 2100 M Street, NW, Suite 203, Washinton, DC 20037, 202-994-1734, eohdmm@gwumc.edu

Polluters and manufacturers of dangerous products often oppose public health and environmental regulation through a strategy of questioning the validity of scientific evidence on which the regulation is based. This strategy of “manufacturing uncertainty” is often associated with the tobacco industry; however, the approach is now so common that it is unusual for the science not to be challenged by an industry facing regulation or demands for victim compensation. This problem is exacerbated by the lack of rules requiring disclosure of conflicts of interest among scientists serving on advisory panels or publishing studies. Manufacturing uncertainty has become a business in itself; numerous technical consulting firms provide a service often called “product defense”. While the strategy of magnifying or manufacturing uncertainty is antithetical to the fundamental public health principle that decisions be made using the best evidence currently available, the success of this approach has encouraged opponents of regulation to advocate for the adoption of formal regulatory and legal structures that sanctify certainty, and therefore delaying or preventing environmental regulation and victim compensation. In response, the public health system must re-establish procedures to enable practitioners to evaluate and apply scientific evidence in a manner that assures the public's health and environment will be adequately protected. Public health practitioners will be most effective in advancing a public health agenda if they learn how to recognize and address manufactured uncertainty.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this presentation, participants will able to

• Recognize the difference between real and manufactured uncertainty in the development of environmental health protection programs; and
• Understand the importance and value of unbiased scientific advice in the development of good environmental health policy.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation