Guest post by David Middleton
Dr. Alex Berezow, founding editor of Real Clear Science, posted a great essay on the American Council on Science and Health website:
Ideological Conflicts Of Interest Are Worse Than Financial Ones
By Alex Berezow — May 31, 2017
“Follow the money!” activists shout. The money trail, according to this logic, always leads to lies and deception.
This puerile fallacy, argumentum ad aurum, is just a thinly disguised ad hominem attack commonly used against scientists. Instead of criticizing the quality or conclusions of the research, activists instead assault the integrity of the scientist.
For certain, money can be a corrupting influence. That’s why journals require scientists to disclose financial ties to industry. But money isn’t the only source of corruption. Indeed, anything that causes a person to reject evidence-based science should be considered a conflict of interest. By that definition, ideology and politics would qualify as conflicts…
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