Merchants of Doubt Terms

Chlorofluorocarbons (commonly called CFCs or Freon) are a class of industrial chemicals, once frequently used in aerosols but now banned in the U.S., that severely damage Earth’s ozone when released into the atmosphere. read analysis of Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)

DDT is a powerful insecticide that was widely used around the world for agricultural and pest control purposes from World War II through the 1980s. It made food production more efficient and helped eliminate malaria… read analysis of DDT

The Environmental Protection Agency is the U.S. executive branch agency, established during the Nixon administration, that is responsible for assessing and addressing environmental threats. It has been a primary target for the “merchants of… read analysis of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

The Fairness Doctrine was a U.S. federal policy that required broadcast journalists to give comparable attention to multiple competing opinions when covering controversial public interest issues. While the Fairness Doctrine was revoked in 1987, its… read analysis of Fairness Doctrine

The George C. Marshall Institute was the conservative think tank started by Fred Seitz, Robert Jastrow, and William Nierenberg in 1984 and disbanded in 2015. read analysis of George C. Marshall Institute

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a committee of thousands of scientists who advise the international community on the current state of climate research. It is widely considered the leading global authority on… read analysis of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

“Merchants of doubt” is Oreskes and Conway’s titular term for scientists who use their political influence to undermine scientific consensus about environmental and public health issues like climate change, pollution, and the dangers of… read analysis of Merchants of Doubt

The National Academy of Sciences is the leading organization of professional scientists in the United States. It is responsible for formally advising the U.S government on the state of current science and medicine. read analysis of National Academy of Sciences (NAS)

Nuclear winter is the global climate-cooling effect that scientists hypothesize could result from a nuclear war. read analysis of Nuclear Winter

Peer review is the standard process by which scientists carefully evaluate and correct one another’s work before publication. It is the main benchmark that distinguishes legitimate scientific research from unproven assertion. read analysis of Peer Review

The President’s Science Advisory Committee (later called the Office of Science and Technology) was a group of leading scientists who formally advised the president on science-related policy issues during the Cold War, from 1957 to… read analysis of President’s Science Advisory Committee (PSAC)

Science is the one of the two most prestigious and influential academic journals in the natural sciences. (The other is Nature.) read analysis of Science (Journal)

Secondhand smoke (also known by its tobacco industry name “environmental tobacco smoke”) is the smoke that non-cigarette smokers accidentally inhale when near people who are smoking. It is highly toxic and causes many of the… read analysis of Secondhand Smoke

The Strategic Defense Initiative, often called “Star Wars,” was an outer space-based missile defense system that the Reagan administration planned to build (but later cancelled) during the Cold War. read analysis of Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)

Supersonic transport are aircraft that travel faster than the speed of sound. The U.S. government once planned to develop SSTs for civilian transport, but it cancelled these plans in the early 1970s. Concern about SSTs’… read analysis of Supersonic Transport (SST)

The Tobacco Industry Research Committee (later renamed the Council for Tobacco Research) was a research group that tobacco companies created to spread doubt about the health impacts of cigarette smoking from the late 1950s until… read analysis of Tobacco Industry Research Committee