The Tobacco “Scepticism” Template

I was already aware that current tactics of climate change deniers are very similar to what the pro tobacco lobby used during their campaign of obfuscation. But just how similar I didn’t realize till I saw the following on ClimateCrocks:

I was going to wait on this, but it’s too important. The point has often been made that the climate denial industry is based on the disinformation techniques pioneered and developed by the Tobacco industry – Naomi Oreskes does it elsewhere on this page. There’s a lot of footage here of tobacco flacks presenting to media and congress.

The parallels between “there is still debate about the link between smoking and cancer” and “there is still debate about the link between CO2 and global climate” are obvious.

See if you can pick out the specific techniques – and see if you can listen to this whole film without getting nauseous as I did.

For me it is just mind boggling how similar the arguments and tactics are. Which scares me to no end as these tactics were effective in delaying action for decades, decades we don’t have…

Collin Maessen is the founder and editor of Real Skeptic and a proponent of scientific skepticism. For his content he uses the most up to date and best research as possible. Where necessary consulting or collaborating with scientists.