There are some science expert witnesses, such as Ronald Melnick and David Michaels, who testify for the lawsuit industry, who seem to believe that the so-called “Daubert” motion is an immoral attempt to exclude important scientific opinions at trial.[1] Melnick and Michaels and their ilk appear to have persuaded themselves that they should have…

The lawsuit industry is fond of claiming that it is victimized by manufactured doubt;[1] its response has often been to manufacture consensus.[2] Doubt and assent are real psychological phenomena that are removed from the more important epistemic question whether the propositions doubted or agreed to are true, or worthy of belief.
Since at…

By the time the third edition of the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence (RMSE) arrived in 2011, the work had evolved into a massive doorstop. The third edition generally got favorable, but unsearching, reviews. In some ways it was an impressive effort, but it left a lot to be desired in terms of comprehensiveness and…

I do not typically focus on politics per se in these pages, but sometimes politicians wander into the domain of public health, tort law, and the like. And when they do, they become “fair game” so to speak for comment.
Speaking of “fair game,” back in August, Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr., [Junior] admitted to dumping…

In the 19th and early 20th century, scientists and lay people usually conceptualized causation as “deterministic.” Their model of science was perhaps what was called Newtonian, in which observations were invariably described in terms of identifiable forces that acted upon antecedent phenomena. The universe was akin to a pool table, with the movement of the…

Last week, Barbara Billauer, at the American Council on Science and Health[1] website, reported on the Australian court that found insufficient scientific evidence to support plaintiffs’ claims that they had developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) from their exposure to Monsanto’s glyphosate product. The judgment had previously been reported by the Genetic Literacy Project,[2] which…

This spring, I had the chance to participate on a panel at the Defense Research Institute’s annual seminar on drug and medical device law. It was a pleasure to work with Dr. Ivan Oransky and Dr. Erica James, in organizing and presenting on the issues surrounding dodgy science and publication retractions, and how their courtroom…