Steven Milloy

Steven J. Milloy is a biostatistician, attorney, and journalist. He is the "Junk Science" commentator for FoxNews.com and runs the website Junkscience.com, which is dedicated to debunking what Milloy labels "faulty scientific data and analysis."

Among the topics Milloy has addressed are what he believes to be false claims regarding DDT, global warming, Alar, breast implants, passive smoking, ozone depletion, and mad cow disease, and many others. Milloy also runs CSRWatch.com, which monitors and criticizes the corporate social responsibility movement. He is the author of the book Junk Science Judo: Self-defense Against Health Scares and Scams. From the 1990s until the end of 2005, he was an adjunct scholar at the libertarian Cato Institute, which hosted the JunkScience.com website. He is currently an adjunct scholar at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

Milloy is also head of the Free Enterprise Action Fund, a mutual fund he runs with former tobacco executive Tom Borelli. Milloy operates the Advancement of Sound Science Center, a non-profit organization which is critical of environmental science, from his home in Potomac, Maryland.

Background

Milloy holds a B.A. in Natural Sciences from Johns Hopkins University, a Master of Health Sciences in Biostatistics from the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, a Juris Doctor from the University of Baltimore, and a Master of Laws from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Junk science

Main article: junk science

Milloy defines junk science as "faulty scientific data and analysis used to further a special agenda."

Secondhand smoke

Milloy has criticized research linking secondhand tobacco smoke to cancer, claiming that "the vast majority of studies reported no statistical association" between secondhand smoke and cancer. In 1993, Milloy dismissed an Environmental Protection Agency report linking secondhand tobacco smoke to cancer as "a joke." Five years later Milloy claimed vindication after a federal court found that the "EPA disregarded information and made findings on selective information; ... deviated from its [standard procedures]; failed to disclose important findings and reasoning; and left significant questions without answers."

When the British Medical Journal published a similar study in 1997, Milloy said, "it remains a joke today." When another researcher published a study linking secondhand smoke to cancer, Milloy wrote that she, "…must have pictures of journal editors in compromising positions with farm animals. How else can you explain her studies seeing the light of day?"

While at FoxNews.com, Milloy continued to criticize claims that secondhand tobacco smoke causes cancer. During the time that Milloy was attacking the supposed link between secondhand smoke and cancer, editorial oversight and content for his junkscience.com website was provided by the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Milloy's supposedly independent organization TASSC was funded and coordinated by Philip Morris (now Altria) with the goal of "utilizing TASSC as a tool in targeted legislative battles." A confidential 1994 Philip Morris memo listed Milloy's organization under "PM Tools to Affect Legislative Decisions". In 2000 & 2001, Milloy provided consulting services to Philip Morris, "monitoring and reporting on scientific studies concerning tobacco, food and beer." He was paid a total of $180,000 over two years for his services.

Secondhand smoke is currently recognized by the United States Surgeon General and the World Health Organization as a clear cause of lung cancer and other health problems.

Asbestos and the World Trade Center

On September 14 2001, three days after terrorist attacks destroyed the World Trade Center, Milloy reported on the opinions of experts who believed that the World Trade Center towers might have stood longer, preventing many casualties, had the use of asbestos fire-resistant lagging not been discontinued during the Towers' construction. Milloy's article reported that, "In 1971, New York City banned the use of asbestos in spray fireproofing. At that time, asbestos insulating material had only been sprayed up to the 64th floor of the World Trade Center towers," and cited experts who questioned the efficacy of the asbestos-free lagging that was used on the steel in the upper floors.

The environment

Milloy has been critical of what he views as "radical environmentalists". He has been outspoken about the "banning" of DDT, the use of which he claims could save millions of lives a year in fighting malaria in Third World nations.

Milloy has been critical of the Clean Air Act of 1970, acknowledging that it has improved air quality but arguing that it has forced Americans to "surrender many freedoms". Milloy argued that "air pollution in the U.S. was more of an aesthetic than a public health problem [in 1970]. That is even more the case today."

Steven Milloy has consistently argued from the position of a global warming skeptic that human activity has little impact on climate change and that regulations to limit greenhouse gas emissions are unwarranted and harmful to business interests. He has criticised the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment as "debunking itself."

Much of his work has been funded by oil and gas interests. Milloy himself was registered as a lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute (API), the trade association for the U.S. oil and gas industries, for the years 1998-2000.

In April 1998 Milloy was part of the "Global Climate Science Team", which was convened by the API to work out a strategy to influence the media so that it would "understand (recognize) uncertainties in climate science".

Food safety

Responding to criticism of the safety of the food product Quorn by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), Milloy accused CSPI of having an undisclosed relationship with Quorn's main competitor, Gardenburger. Writing for FoxNews.com, Milloy said that "CSPI appears to have an unsavory relationship with Quorn competitor, Gardenburger" and called the CSPI's complaints "unscrupulous shrieking". Gardenburger denied Milloy's accusation, arguing that Milloy's allegation of an "unsavory relationship" was "untrue and groundless".

Creationism

Milloy has been reluctant to criticise creationism. In response to a question:

What's the real deal on evolution?... My Christian friends tell me it's a theory shot full of errors. And my scientist friends tell me it's provable in the everyday world.

Milloy answered:

Explanations of human evolution are not likely to move beyond the stage of hypothesis or conjecture. There is no scientific way - i.e., no experiment or other means of reliable study - for explaining how humans developed. Without a valid scientific method for proving a hypothesis, no indisputable explanation can exist.

The process of evolution can be scientifically demonstrated in some lower life forms, but this is a far cry from explaining how humans developed.

That said, some sort of evolutionary process seems most likely in my opinion. But there will probably always be enough uncertainty in any explanation of human evolution to give critics plenty of room for doubt.

Work as a lobbyist

The guidebook Washington Representatives described Milloy as a registered lobbyist employed by the EOP Group in 1996. Milloy is also listed as a lobbyist in the federal United States Senate Lobby Filing Disclosure Program. The non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics also lists Milloy as a registered lobbyist from 1998 through 2000, with clients including the American Petroleum Institute, Dow Chemical, the International Food Additives Council, and FMC Corporation.

Milloy has denied ever working as a lobbyist, writing in an email in 1998:

I do not lobby for ANYONE. Before I became executive director of TASSC, I did some technical consulting for a D.C. firm which had the policy of registering all its employees and consultants as lobbyists (whether or not they lobbied) pursuant to a new law passed in 1995. I am aware of the listing and have asked it to be corrected since I no longer work for that firm.

However, as of October 2006, Milloy remains listed as a registered lobbyist in the above federal and non-governmental databases.

Corporate activism

Through the Free Enterprise Action Fund, a mutual fund run by Milloy and former tobacco executive Tom Borelli, Milloy has criticised companies that voluntarily adopt high environmental standards. A statement issued by the Fund on November 30 2005 began:

Action Fund Management LLC (AFM), investment adviser to the Free Enterprise Action Fund, requested that Goldman Sachs’ (NYSE: GS) Audit and Corporate Governance Committees review the firm’s recently announced Environmental Policy. “We are concerned that CEO Henry Paulson may have had a material conflict of interest and management may have breached its fiduciary duty to shareholders by adopting the policy,” said AFM’s Steve Milloy.

Through the platform of the FEAF, Milloy has criticized a number of other corporations for adopting environmental initiatives:

• The FEAF criticized Microsoft for abandoning the use of PVC in its packing materials.
• Milloy accused the Business Roundtable, a pro-business organization of CEO's, of being "silent about current threats to business", adding, "Last September, we warned 18 member company CEOs participating in the BRT’s 'sustainable growth' initiative to stop wasting corporate resources."
• Milloy and Borelli argued that General Electric is harming its shareholders by launching a program to curtail greenhouse gas emissions. They also accused G.E. of ignoring the input of global warming skeptic groups such as the Cato Institute and the oil-industry-funded Competitive Enterprise Institute in forming their environmental policy.

Criticism

Milloy has been accused by his critics of making misleading and false claims, and of presenting himself as an impartial journalist on health and environmental matters while accepting funding and editorial input from tobacco and oil companies. Critics claim that, in practice, Milloy regularly criticises research suggesting that corporate activities harm the environment or public health as "junk science," while praising scientific analysis that supports his preferred positions.

Biographical claims

Milloy's biography on his junkscience.com website claims that he was a member of the judging panel for the 2004 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Journalism Awards. However, the AAAS website does not list him among the 2004 judges. Journalist Paul D. Thacker reported that the AAAS initially invited Milloy as a judge, because he was listed in a media directory of journalists as a "science editor". However, Milloy was disqualified as an AAAS judge after the conflict of interest inherent in his position with the libertarian Cato Institute was revealed.

Journalistic ethics

Critics have contended that Milloy is a paid advocate for Phillip Morris, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco, and other companies. Records show that R.J. Reynolds provided material to Milloy for use on his junkscience.com web site. Critics claim this as evidence that the content of junkscience.com has actually been reviewed, revised, and edited by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.

In January 2006, Paul D. Thacker reported in The New Republic that Milloy, who is presented by Fox News as an independent journalist, was under contract to provide consulting services to Philip Morris through the end of 2005. Philip Morris documents showed that Milloy was budgeted hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments while writing for FoxNews.com. In the May/June 2005 issue of Mother Jones, Chris Mooney reported that non-profit organizations operated out of Milloy's home have also received large payments from ExxonMobil during his tenure with Fox News.

A spokesperson for Fox News stated, "Fox News was unaware of Milloy's connection with Philip Morris. Any affiliation he had should have been disclosed." Regarding ties to ExxonMobil, a Fox News spokesperson stated that Milloy is "...affiliated with several not-for-profit groups that possibly may receive funding from Exxon, but he certainly does not receive funding directly from Exxon."

Journalists who take money to write pieces favorable to corporate interests are widely considered to be breaching journalistic ethics. Milloy's association with the Cato Institute has since ended; however, as of October 2006, he continues to write for FoxNews.com, where he is described as a "junk science expert."

Reaction to death of political opponents

In 1999, David Platt Rall, a prominent environmental scientist, died in a car accident. Milloy celebrated Rall's death on junkscience.com as the "Obituary of the Day," writing: "Scratch one junk scientist who promoted the bankrupt idea that poisoning rats with a chemical predicts cancer in humans exposed to much lower levels of the chemical — a notion that, at the very least, has wasted billions and billions of public and private dollars." Cato Institute President Edward Crane called Milloy's attack an "inexcusable lapse in judgement and civility", but Milloy continued his attack on Rall, writing: "As far as David Rall is concerned, he was a bad guy when he was alive — shamelessly promoting the bankrupt notion that human cancer risk can be predicted by poisoning rats with chemicals. …Death did not improve his track record — no matter how many letters the Environmental Working Group sends to the Cato Institute." Since that time, Milloy has removed the attacks from his website, although he has not apologized.

Following the death of Senator John Chafee (R-R.I.) in 1999, Milloy highlighted Chafee's death as the "Obituary of the Day", writing: "Unfortunately, Sen. Chafee too often acted like a Democrat on environmental and regulatory reform issues. The good news is his replacement as Committee chairman will be Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) who has shown courage in opposing the Kyoto protocol and the EPA air quality proposals."

World Trade Center tragedy

Advocates for banning asbestos were highly critical of Milloy's September 14 2001 article about asbestos fire-resistant cladding in the WTC Towers. They questioned his motives and disputed his conclusions, and charged him with "insensitivity that is hard to fathom." The lack of asbestos in the lagging used on the upper floors was not mentioned in the NIST's report on the Towers' collapse, which noted that the planes' impact dislodged any fireproofing that might have prevented the collapse.

Laurie Kazan-Allen of the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat wrote:

It takes a certain kind of person to capitalize on a human catastrophe such as the attacks on the World Trade Centre. While the rest of us remained desperate for news, some were plotting how these events could be used to maximum advantage. ... The fact that Milloy chose to make this and other such statements as ground zero was still smouldering shows an insensitivity that is hard to fathom. What decent human being could do anything during those early days but watch and wait as the emergency services worked 24/7 to locate survivors?

Free Enterprise Action Fund

Milloy's mutual fund, the Free Enterprise Action Fund (FEAF), has been criticised by investment analyst Chuck Jaffe as being "an advocacy group in search of assets." Jaffe concludes "Strip away the rhetoric, and you’re getting a very expensive, underperforming index fund, while Milloy and his partner Thomas Borelli get a platform for raising their pet issues."

Similarly, Daniel Gross, in a Slate magazine article, wrote that FEAF "seems to be a lobbying enterprise masquerading as a mutual fund." Gross noted that Milloy and Tom Borelli, the former head of corporate scientific affairs for Philip Morris, lack any money management experience; he also noted that FEAF had badly underperformed the S&P 500 during its first 10 months of existence. Gross concluded that "...in the short term, it looks like Borelli and Milloy are essentially paying the fund for the privilege of using it as a platform to broadcast their views on corporate governance, global warming, and a host of other issues."

Responses

Milloy and Borelli have defended Exxon against criticism for funding global warming sceptics and others, though without declaring their own financial interest. In September 2006, Milloy's Junkscience.com site reproduced the following excerpt of a piece by Borelli published in Townhall.com, criticising the British Royal Society:

Battle for the boardroom - After over 200 years of independence, the British are still trying to direct U.S. public policy. The Royal Society – the British equivalent of the National Academy of Sciences – recently admonished Exxon Mobil for supporting organizations that question the link between man-made greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.

Notwithstanding the offensive nature of a prestigious organization attempting to silence scientific debate, the Royal Society’s letter sheds light on the larger effort employed by agents of the Left to shut-down corporate support for pro-growth political organizations, politicians and policies. By cutting-off the financial supply lines for free-market thought and policies, these agents – labor unions, NGOs, the media – hope to dominate public debate and control public opinion. As these tactics continue to meet with success, liberal policies and politicians will gain a huge strategic advantage.

For those of us interested in promoting pro-growth ideas, loss of corporate support represents a huge threat to sound public policy. There is too much money, power and influence wielded by companies and free-market advocates can’t afford to give up that high ground to the Left.

See also

• Global Climate Coalition
• American Petroleum Institute

External links

Milloy's Websites

• Junkscience.com
• CSRWatch.com

Tobacco Documents

• The Legacy Tobacco Documents Library at the University of California, San Francisco. Contains documentary evidence of the editorial and financial connections between Milloy and the tobacco industry.
• The Philip Morris USA Document Site, containing documentary evidence of Milloy's advocacy for and financial ties to Philip Morris.

Critical links

• "The Trashman Speweth" and "How Big Tobacco Helped Create "'the Junkman'" at PR Watch
• Junkscience at the Skeptic's Dictionary
• Steven Milloy at SourceWatch
• Steven Milloy at the History Commons
• "The Junkman Climbs to the Top" at Environmental Science & Technology, May 11, 2005
• "Smoked Out" at The New Republic (also available at Freepress.net), January 26, 2006
• "Strange bedfellows: Politics and investment fund" in the Boston Herald, January 24, 2006
• "Climate Change, The Denial Industry", The Guardian, September 19, 2006
• "Exxon Secrets"
• "Some Like It Hot" article on Milloy's connection to ExxonMobil at Mother Jones, May/June 2005
• "If You Seek the Truth, Don't Trash the Science", Washington Post exposé by John Schwartz, February 21, 1999