Science & Democracy Resources

Too often, companies use the Disinformation Playbook to make public policy work for them, instead of for all of us. But the Playbook is not unstoppable—and it's time to push back.

Despite decades of deception on the climate risks of fossil fuel extraction, ExxonMobil for years sponsored the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union, one of the nation’s most prominent scientific associations.

Philip Morris funded university research programs, sometimes with contracts that breach university ethics requirements, as part of a concerted public relations and marketing strategy to improve tobacco’s tarnished image.

The Marcellus Shale Coalition, a fossil fuel trade association, has tried to use the reputation and credibility of universities and its scientists to promote natural gas

The American Chemistry Council worked for decades to downplay formaldehyde risks and to delay and obstruct standards proposed by the EPA.

Trade associations representing indoor tanning salon owners have repeatedly made misleading representations in their advertising and marketing, downplaying evidence of the link between tanning bed exposure and melanoma.

The sugar industry quietly funded public relations firms and front groups to sow disinformation about the health effects of added sugar.

When Dr. John Buse found that a diabetes drug had the side effect of higher risk of heart disease, GlaxoSmithKline officials threatened his integrity and career.

A Koch-funded think tank tried to harass and discredit prominent climate scientist Michael Mann by suing for access to his private correspondence. Mann defeated the effort—but fears the resulting “chill” could deter young climate scientists.

Dr. Tyrone Hayes’s work on the dangers of atrazine made him a target for agribusiness giant Syngenta.

To avoid regulation and protect itself from lawsuits, the fossil fuel industry funded nearly $40 million of research downplaying the link between the petrochemical benzene and cancer.

Scientists from pharmaceutical giant Merck skewed results of clinical trials in favor of the arthritis drug, Vioxx, to hide evidence that the drug increased patients’ risk of heart attack.