That happened when phthalates were linked to childhood asthma. While there was a large overlap between amount of phthalates in dust measured in houses of patients and non-patients, the main conclusion was an increased risk of asthma at higher phthalate levels in dust. But that is contradicted by (better controlled) laboratory animal studies at one side and epidemiological studies of workers in the phthalate/PVC industry at the other side, where occupational levels are far higher, and where asthma or (very rare) allergy cases are not increased. What the researchers failed to look at (no figures for total – inhaled – dust amount were given), is the fact that in houses with asthma patients, dust is far more controlled, including easy to clean vinyl flooring (with phthalates…), thus they probably reversed cause and effect!

Main conclusion: non-industry funded studies are not necessarily more reliable than industry funded one’s. Much depends on how good the individual study is set up, including all possible confounders…

In Conflicts of Interest Roger Pielke illuminates the murky battle ground of science politicization. It is important to recognize that the chase of chemical risk assessment (and climate change and many others) putatively scientific debates are real pr…