A new paper on corporate science is now available online
From David Schleifer:
Please circulate …
I co-edited a special issue of the Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society with Bart Penders of Maastricht University, published last week, about the social study of corporate science. The table of contents is online at http://bst.sagepub.com/content/31/6.toc.
Yours,
David Schleifer, PhD
Associate Research Scholar
Center on Medicine as a Profession
Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons
212 342 0714
ds3029@columbia.edu
http://www.imapny.org/
Extract from the section: We Spent a Million Bucks and Then We Had To Do Something
The Unexpected Implications of Industry Involvement in Trans Fat Research
Abstract
Many scholars assume that industry meddles in scientific research in order to defend their products. But this article shows that industry meddling in science can have a variety of consequences. American food manufacturers long denied that trans fats were associated with disease. Academic scientists, government scientists, and activists in fact endorsed trans fats as a healthier alternative to saturated fats. But in 1990, a high-profile study showed that trans fats increased risk factors for heart disease more than saturated fats did. Industry funded a U.S. Department of Agriculture study that they hoped would exonerate trans fats. But the industry-funded U.S. Department of Agriculture study also indicated that trans fats increased risk factors for heart disease more than saturated fats. Industry quickly began developing trans fat alternatives. This confirms that corporations get involved in science in order to defend their products. But involvement in science can be the very means by which corporations persuade themselves to change their products.
http://bst.sagepub.com/content/31/6.toc
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