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We have had a recent and unfortunate encounter with a website called DeSmogBlog, whose stated aim is "clearing the PR pollution that clouds climate science." In reality, it's an ideologically driven, propaganda website that spreads malicious disinformation and smears scientists like the late Dr. Freeman Dyson.

And irony of ironies! While claiming to be on the side of science, DeSmogBlog Executive Director Brendan DeMelle is an anti-vaxxer.

His bio page proudly notes that he "served as research associate for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr." As we have written before,...

“Banning menthol—the last allowable flavor—in cigarettes and banning all flavors in cigars will help save lives, particularly among those disproportionately affected by these deadly products. With these actions, the FDA will help significantly reduce youth initiation, increase the chances of smoking cessation among current smokers, and address health disparities …Together, these actions represent powerful, science-based approaches that will have an extraordinary public health impact.” FDA Statement by Acting FDA Commissioner 

Janet Woodcock, MD

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Working for the “opposition” is neither new nor restricted to regulators. Many criminal defense attorneys learned their trade as prosecuting attorneys. And in Washington, sometimes it is more of a revolving, rather than a one-way door, with a regulator coming and going from public service and the private sector with changing administrations.

Matt Holman was the director of the Office of Science at the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products; Keagan Lenihan was an associate commissioner for external affairs and strategic initiatives and is now VP of governmental affairs and public policy at Philip Morris. This is the second departure from the FDA to Philip Morris in the last few weeks.

What do these regulatory captures bring to the table?

In general,...

Many of us will recognize Daniel Gilbert as a retirement fund spokesman, helping us see just how long our retirement funds will last with dominos, ribbons and sticky notes. But his real job is being a psychology professor, and he has recently co-authored a short but impactful paper in Science on another bias in our judgments. When we describe aspects of the world, big or small, few or many, we compare what we see with some relevant reference value. When we think about how often something occurs, our remembrance of its prior frequency influences our judgment – psychologists term this prevalence-induced concept change. The study reports on seven simple experiments.

The Study

In the first study, people were shown dots of color ranging from very purple to...