[Editor Note: This is the second of three posts on the human harm from pseudo-science. Part I yesterday introduced the history of scientific fraud as a precursor to the much more sophisticated misdirection of today. Part III tomorrow will consider climate-change controversies.]

Air Pollution – PM2.5

EPA exonerated glyphosate – and did so during the Obama era. That alone should be dispositive on the chemical’s dangers because, especially during the Obama years, EPA was the most dogmatic US government agency with regard to blaming industry for imagined, exaggerated or fabricated risks.

A prime example is PM2.5: particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns – soot that’s a fourth the diameter of pollen. President Obama had promised that his EPA would shut down coal-fired power plants and bankrupt the industry. PM2.5 was their weapon of choice.…

“[Today’s] fraudulent work is also used to underwrite and justify mass tort lawsuits that likewise threaten corporations, industries, our agriculture and economy, our health and welfare – while enriching a cabal of dishonest lawyers, scientists, politicians and allied pressure groups.”

Scientific pranks and frauds go back centuries. They used to be humorous, even harmless. Indeed, some of the greatest hoaxes are astounding for their audacity – and for the gullibility of folks they fooled, even when the victims were themselves brilliant scientists (at least in their own minds).

Johann Beringer’s fossil trove in Würzburg, Germany uncovered frogs petrified in the very act of mating, insects while feeding and other amazing feats of fossilization – or fabrication. The “fossils” were actually a practical joke on the good doctor by his envious colleagues.…