Junk Science and Environmental Policy: Obscuring Public Debate with Misleading Discourse

نویسندگان

  • Charles N. Herrick
  • Dale Jamieson
چکیده

The term "junk science" has become a fixture of popu lar and journalistic parlance, with media accounts leaving the impression that junk science is pervasive and far-reaching. News stories and OpEds suggest that junk science is especially troublesome in the arena of environmental policy. We are told that an "epidemic of junk science is afflicting the courts," that "scientific fraud is endemic," that "federal agencies [are] running amok with junk science," and that "the core of real science [has been] overwhelmed by a flurry of junk science." One newspaper editorial asserted that " [t]here is a battle taking place in America today between real science and junk science .... " Many in the environmental science and policy communities might dismiss such claims as journalistic exuberance. While it is well known that the quality of environmental research in the U.S. varies, with plenty of room for improvement, there is li ttle reason to accept the existence of any sort of crisis. The National Science Board's Task Force on the Environment recently completed an exhaustive review of the state of environmental science in the United States. The Task Force conducted hearings and town meetings, solicited commentary from scientists, government agencies, and the private sector, and reviewed hundreds of reports and documents relating to environmental research and assessments. While this effort resulted in numerous suggestions and recommendations, nothing in the report suggests an epidemic of junk science. Recent reviews of the Environmental Protection Agency support the same conclusion, as do current annual reports and leadership messages from the National Academy of Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the National Cow1cil for Science and the Environment. However, w idespread media claims about the preva lence of junk science should be taken seriously. For most people, the news media are the most in1portant sources of information about environmental issues. Studies show that public attitudes about the environment tend to mirror the content and emphasis of media stories . While one can find debates over the merit and desirability of environmental and public health policies in such venues as the courts, legislative proceedings, public meetings, hearings, protests and other events, the media playa central role in these debates by providing forums for public discourse through OpEd pieces, letters to the ed itor, and so on; and by reporting on debates occurring in other forums. Even more importantly, examination of media accounts of junk science helps reveal how the public is asked to view environmental science. According to syndicated columnist, Ellen Goodman, " [We] need

برای دانلود رایگان متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

A New Approach to Public Policy Studies Relying on the Theory of Critical Discourse Analysis Studies the State as a Discourse

Understanding the policy cycle, as well as scrutinizing the text of hidden and obvious policies and rules, requires a model of discourse analysis based on which discursive ap-proaches of policy makers are understood and estimated. However, when it comes to presenting a policy model, we have to use the views of policy theorists to see how a problem as a "public goods" can be found in the policy ...

متن کامل

The U.S. Environmental Movement: Crisis or Transition?

We address the debate surrounding the current status of the U.S. environmental movement. Using measures of ecological and public policy impact, we show that the U.S. environmental movement has failed to prevent the continuing negative growth of the U.S. ecological footprint and, since the early 1990s, has been blocked in its national legislative agenda. We trace this failure to the dominance wi...

متن کامل

Rationalizing the GMO Debate: The Ordonomic Approach to Addressing Agricultural Myths

The public discourse on the acceptability of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is not only controversial, but also infused with highly emotional and moralizing rhetoric. Although the assessment of risks and benefits of GMOs must be a scientific exercise, many debates on this issue seem to remain impervious to scientific evidence. In many cases, the moral psychology attributes of the general...

متن کامل

Not Up for Discussion: Applying Lukes’ Power Model to the Study of Health System Corruption; Comment on “We Need to Talk About Corruption in Health Systems”

This companion paper suggests the potential benefits of applying Steven Lukes’ dimensions of power model to the study of corruption in health systems. Lukes’ model sets out three “faces of power” classified by their influence on political discourse, resulting in overt, covert and latent discussion of issues depending on the degree of their alignment with the agenda of d...

متن کامل

Rights Language in the Sustainable Development Agenda: Has Right to Health Discourse and Norms Shaped Health Goals?

While the right to health is increasingly referenced in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) discussions, its contribution to global health and development remains subject to considerable debate. This hypothesis explores the potential influence of the right to health on the formulation of health goals in 4 major SDG reports. We analyse these reports through a social constructivist lens which view...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

عنوان ژورنال:

دوره   شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2013