Carlo's wider anti-science activities.

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Junk-science emerges under the 'Sound Science' banner. See 2046597149 See 2025493120 See GEP See Risk Assessment & Management	The 'Sound Science' Projects Who determines sound vs junk science decisions. Around 1992-93 the tobacco industry realised it was losing the dispute over the problem of passive smoking (called ETS - Environmental Tobacco Smoke), so it decided to widen its science attacks, and coordinate the junk-science propaganda which was proving to be a valuable way to attack legitimate science. By joining forces with other industry lobbyists, they brand science which proved health-dangers or enviornmental damage as 'not being sound' (junk-science) and thereby mount a concerted corporate-coalition attacks on regulators. These attacks were often led by one company, but funded jointly by a number of American and global industry sectors. Ex-Director of OSHA (under Reagan), Thorne Auchter and parner Jim Tozzi (also a Reagan appointee to the OMB) who ran the public relations and lobbying firm (MBS) Multinational Business Services, were given the job of setting up one angle, and APCO & Associates (later with Burson-Marsteller also) set up another. Auchter and APCO worked together on many tobacco projects. Auchter and Tozzi initially set up their non-profit "Regulatory and Policy" organisation called Federal Focus, Inc. which was funded by Philip Morris with the specific aim of influencing the US government's thinking on environmental protection regulations as a whole. It concentrated on 'risk management'. Federal Focus became highly influential, mainly by running social gatherings to which people of influence in Washington were invited. This became so important, that Federal Focus ended up running its own Jazz band -- available to those associates who wanted to run lobby parties. See The original and a new version supposedly for children under a different name See) Astroturf Tozzi and Auchter also floated off numerous "non-profit' (untaxed) policy institutes and pseudo-grassroots organisations which tried to exert influence on various areas of government, mainly by funding pseudo-science, or faking popular support for various corporate viewpoints. This was for food and chemical companies, initially, then later the hospitality industry, and later still, a whole raft of other companies led by the National Manufacturer's Association (NMA). These industry groups all supported thier lobbying efforts. A similar attack on environmental science was mounted by the oil industry through an organisation called NEPI (National Environmental Policy Institute) organised by ex-Republican Rep. Dan Ritter, and run by (later "Junkman") Steve Milloy. At some stage around this time, Milloy worked with Auchter and Tozzi also. This approach to the corruption of science, and the effective way they had of putting the regulators on the back-foot (unable to show who was funding the attacks), proved to be highly successful -- and it became the standard way for American industries to handle such problems. Tozzi and Auchter were pioneers in a new corruption-of-science industry. For the tobacco industry, Jim Tozzi ran the Federal Focus operations for a while, then there was a reshuffle with Tozzi taking over MBS and Auchter heading Federal Focus. Later Auchter found a subsidiary which became known as IRP, the 'Institute for Regulatory Policy'. There were other 'astroturf' (fake grassroots) organisations as well (one to feature the mayors of towns and cities). At about this time Auchter also seems to have gone into partnership with Carlo in HES, and they began to work together. Auchter commissioned Carlo to do a major research project, nominally funded by the IRP, but actually paid for by Philip Morris and controlled by APCO. This was the 'Science Bias' report, which later evolved into the GEP project. This move out of day-to-day public relations into a (supposed) regulatory policy institute was essential for Auchter because Philip Morris had successfully lobbied President Bush to establish an organisation within the White House which was to have oversight over the EPA, FDA and OSHA standards. It was to decide when regulation was necessary, and Auchter was lobbying to get elected -- and he succeeded along with another tobacco industry lobbyist, and a lobbying lawyer for the nuclear waste industry. The PM memos show that Auchter knew well in advance that he was about to be elected to the President's Commission on Risk Assessment and Management (July 22 1992).
GEP .	Good Epidemiological Practices [aka The London Principles] This was decended from the Part II proposal Carlo and LeVois put up to Philip Morris in 1989 ("Scientists doing regulatory epidemiological research are biased"). The report was approved by Philip Morris, and then presented to the politicians as an independent study funded by IRP and conducted by a independent scientist. Federal Focus and APCO then promoted it around the world. GEP was an attempt to take this further, and establish their own set of standards for the use of toxicology and epidemiology by government regulators. The aim was to set the bar so high that no regulator could jump over it. Carlo's study "proved" that epidemiology and toxicology are flawed sciences, and that anti-tobacco scientists were biased. With Philip Morris funding, Auchter and Carlo then sought to establish GEP as new "sound science" standard. [ GEP was actually designed by Dr Elizabeth Whelan for the Chemical Association, then taken up and "improved" by Philip Morris]. The story of GEP is long and involved, but there are a number of excellent reviews of the history on the Internet. Also See Glantz-Ong article
The rise of TASSC. See the Philip Morris documents Nos. 2025493060 and 2025840856 for further details. [I am progressively shifting these to this site]. The Junk-science claims of industry. All science that leads to adverse results (from the company's viewpoint), results from scientific bias. The solution is to make scientists working for regulators conform to special GEP standards. These standards require 'proof' before action, and this then blocks the regulators of taking any precautions before such proof is established. See TASSC's on-line Junkscience operation .	The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition At the same time Philip Morris funded APCO Associates to start a new "sound science" organisation called TASSC (The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition) which was taken over eventually by a con-man called Steve Milloy and is best known today for running the "Junkscience" web site which still gets the suckers in today. If you want to understand this more, see the expose of Steve Milloy and the TASSC operations (still being revised as more comes to light.) Carlo became a leading light in TASSC and worked diligently for the organisation when required. APCO and Burson-Marsteller saw this as the best way to browbeat anti-tobacco and anti-polluting scientists. If you can lable their research as "junk" or suggest that they have not conformed to industry standards -- and if you have the resources of a worldwide public relations organisation behind you to promote these views -- then you can inflict a lot of damage. Carlo was so successful at this that he was sent to Europe to help start another version of the TASSC organisation, (later known as ESEF (The European Science and Environmental Forum) and to recruit tame scientists willing to give evidence to European parliaments and regulators that tobacco smoke wasn't harmful. This venture was organised jointly by Burson-Marsteller and APCO Associates for Philip Morris and the Tobacco Institute, with other tobacco companies contributing. Later a similar operation was launched in Asia.
Federal Focus Thorne Auchter enters the cellphone research business. Cellular Telephone Research and Cancer Symposium. National Symposium on Wireless Transmission Base Station Facilities Blueprint for Constructing a Credible Environmental Risk Assessment Policy	Carlo and his mates. Multinational Business Services (MBS) George Carlo (and Steve Milloy) have long worked through various pseudo-organisations which are owned an run by Jim Tozzi (ex-Reagan OMB administrator) and Thorne Auchter (ex Reagan OHSA director). Auchter and probably Tozzi, are silent partners in his HES operation, and they seem to share a few luxuries like apartments in Florida and very large deep-sea fishing boats. MBS has hived off dozens of different pseudo-organisations that are generally registered with the IRS as 501(c)(3) 'non-profits'. The first and now the umbrella group for the whole sorry mess is Federal Focus, Inc. Federal Focus, Inc. Carlo is only indirectly involved with Federal Focus. This was set up and run by Jim Tozzi and Thorne Auchter initially for the tobacco industry. This organisation claims to have three key functions. The first is its "mission of providing objective and impartial information and analysis on government policy, science policy, and scientific issues." The second is to develop the science of "Risk Assessment" (how much co-lateral damage is acceptable before corporate profits are reduced). The third is to run a jazz band. [I kid you not!] Federal Focus Claims ... Federal Focus has engaged in the following types of projects: convening of a joint Federal-private sector symposium for development of a comprehensive research strategy for assessing potential health risks from cellular telephones ("Cellular Telephone Research and Cancer Symposium", Dec. 1993, Washington, DC) convening of a "National Symposium on Wireless Transmission Base Station Facilities", Oct. 1994, and development and publication of educational materials on the state of scientific knowledge regarding the potential for health risks from cellular communications base stations ("Federal Focus National Symposium on Wireless Transmission Base Station Facilities: A Tutorial") assistance to Federal agencies and the private sector in raising funding for, and coordinating, the exhibit on U.S. environmental technology at the Rio "Earth Summit" briefings of Executive Branch officials on the "unfunded mandates" issue impacting state and local governments participation in Executive Branch discussions leading up to Executive Order 12866 (on regulatory planning and review) publication of "A Blueprint for Constructing a Credible Environmental Risk Assessment Policy in the 104th Congress" (Oct. 1994) publication of "Environmental Endocrine Effects: An Overview of the State of Scientific Knowledge and Uncertainties" (CSEEE, Sept. 1995) Federal Focus Inc.There are about a half-dozen which now appear to be defunct, including a few for the tobacco industry to enlist various State Governors and other politicians. Such pseudo-organisations serve the purpose of providing a back channel (which on the surface looks legitimate) to launder very generous 'speakers' fees and other junkets and campaign contributions. These ones still appear to be in use: Center for Epidemiological Studies (CES) This one appeared after 1993, but I don't know what it does. I assume it was created to push the GEP standards. Philip Morris spent a small fortune on lawyers used to write up model legislation for the European Parliament, and then ran a number of symposia in parts of Europe. They were probably organised through this pseudo-organisation. Institute for Regulatory Policy (IRP) This was directly financed by Philip Morris, and run by Thorne Auchter alone. George Carlo's research project which 'established' that all health scientists were biased, was released and published under the name IRP togetherwith the claim that it had been funded and controlled by this organisation. Health Policy Institute (HPI) This one appeared just before 1994. Center for Study of Environment Endocrine Effects The Federal Focus subsidiary called CSEEE appeared in late 1994. Apparently the Center for Study of Environment Endocrine Effects is looking at hormone mimics and such health effects caused by such things as DDT breakdown and dioxins. The guff at the web-site says its "basic mission is to provide the public with objective and unbiased information on the state of scientific knowledge regarding issues of 'endocrine disruption', and to conduct, or sponsor the conduct of, scientific research in that area." Some chance!
With the WTR work under threat, Carlo decides to branch out in new directions.	Some of Carlo's own pseudo-organisations This comes from Carlo's own biographical details. The Carlo Institute is Born. End 1996/1997: He establishes The Carlo Institute [A New Paradigm for Public Health Issues Management.] This is a "non-profit - academic centre for scientific understanding" which will be involved in training people in "sound public decision making" Carlo makes himself the chairman (Carlo biog) See Carlo Institute site. Dr. Carlo has been listed in Who's Who in Science and Engineering, Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare, and Who's Who in the World. End 1996: At about this time he begins promoting the new Carlo Institute to lawyers and public administrators through a series of public statements and lectures on how to deal with rat-bag greenies and the fanatical health and environmental nuts. Yet it is the activities of these people that make his services as a consultant so useful to companies in trouble. The Nocebo Promotion It is difficult to know who financed this promotion of the nocebo claim. In effect, it is an attempt to provide defence lawyers in product liability cases with a new defensive claim that people make themselves sick, by worrying about getting sick. Since this is impossible to prove or disprove, it is an ideal way to confused a judge and jury. Carlo seems to have been the first to be actively promoting this new catch-phrase, although it appears to have been invented by his friend Dr. Ernst L. Wynder. "Nocebo" is a distortion of "Placebo", and the word only appeared in about 1994. However with a healthy push from some PR companies, an a compliant media, it proved to be an effective public relations tool, particularly among right-wing business groups. Carlo announced publically that he was a believer in, and a promoter of, "The Nocebo Effect." 1996 Dec: Carlo's HES is a sponsor and he is the keynote speaker at a three-day Nocebo workshop Dec 2 -- 4 1996 and the following year he ran a policy-setting conference on the subject during February 18 1997 to develope this idea. From the viewpoint of psychology, it was nothing more than a junk-science name for EMS ("Expectation Mediation Symptoms"), which is another name for fear-generated illnesses. This is a very rare, but genuine medical condition, which Carlo and Wynder promote for public relations reasons as if it were rife, clearly as a way to lobby the government. According to the deniers, people who are ill from pesticides, dioxins, etc, are just "nuts" suffering from fear-generated illnesses, according to this theory. Here's what his documentation says about the Nocebo Effect: In distinguishing the positive from the negative effects of belief, scientists use the term placebo, based on the Latin verb placere (to please), for positive effects and its opposite nocebo, based on the verb nocere (to harm). The phrase nocebo is also commonly used to refer to the negative placebo. Over the past two years, a small group of leading scientists, academicians, and professionals has initiated scientific inquiry into the nocebo phenomenon. Are nocebo effects having an impact on symptoms among Gulf War veterans, women with breast implants, users of cellular telephones, and consumers of fat substitutes and artificial sweeteners that some refer to as junk science? [Note he manages to get almost every last one of his client-company's problems into this definition.] Experts from a variety of disciplines have been brought together for a series of scientific meetings to discuss what is known and what we need to know about nocebo effects and expectation mediated symptoms (EMS). The first meeting, The Negative Placebo (Nocebo): Its Scientific, Medical, and Public Health Implications, was sponsored by American Health Foundation in November 1995. [The AHF is Wynder's version of HES.] As a follow-up on issues raised at this meeting, the National Institutes of Health, American Health Foundation, and The Institute for Science and Public Policy sponsored Placebo and Nocebo Effects: Developing a Research Agenda in December 1996. [Carlo runs the ISPP] On 18 February 1997, an entire day will be dedicated to evaluating the wide ranging implications specific to the nocebo phenomenon and EMS at A Breakthrough Workshop on Nocebo (Negative Placebo) Effects and Expectation Mediated Symptoms. It is fairly obvious what Carlo believes here, and he and Wynder managed to get the NIH involved as well. If you get headaches from using a cell phone, it is just part of the mass hysteria generated by nuts who think cell phone radiations may not be as benign as does George. American Health Foundation Carlo seems to have a close relationship with Dr. Ernst L. Wynder of the American Health Foundation. This is a is a private research organization founded by Wynder in 1969. Wynder was highly active in the anti-smoking area very early in his life, but later he came to depend on the tobacco industry and other similar p&p indrustries for the cash needed to maintain large laboratories and a substantial workforce. Wynder had a gigantic ego, and saw himself as a 'social lion' in the gay New York scene. He came to believe that he was God's gift to America, destined to solve all of the mysteries of cancer. He did do genuine science, but he always managed to slant the public release of his findings in a way that suited the funding corportions. By the mid 1990s he was managing to lever $15 million a year out of the tobacco industry and other companies wanting special health and nutrition research, and even then he overspent the income. When he died a few years ago, he left a bankrupt organisation with many debts, including those owing to staff and his loyal supporters. Wynder appears to have been very adept at playing both sides of the road -- he maintained an image of being 'anti-tobacco' while taking millions of dollars from tobacco companies. People like Tozzi, Auchter and Carlo exploited the needs and gullibility of Wynder, and the AHF often organising symposia and science groups to help the tobacco industry propaganda. They used him, and he must have been aware of it. The AHF is now claimed to be an insitution which is "uniquely devoted to the prevention of major chronic diseases such as various cancers and heart disease". Carlo was associated with Wynder in the tobacco days, and he continues that relationship by promoting Wynder's great discovery, the Nocebo Effect. Perhaps he levers some credibility from the association.
The Washington Legal Foundation. .	He is also playing a major part in the proceedings of the Washington Legal Foundation, [He has been associated with them since the tobacco industry days.] which claims to be a non-profit organisations. However the WLF operates as a business lobby group, and it offers for sale legal documentation and advice -- specifically aimed at presenting corporations against citizens and activist groups. Here's what they say: Washington Legal Foundation This group claims to be "Free enterprise advocates with public interest know-how" with a mission: "promoting free enterprise principles; limited government property rights; and reform of the civil and criminal justice system." Its role is in shaping public policy through aggressive litigation and advocacy". Carlo writes special legal briefs for this group, who seem to specialise in helping lawyers defend corporate clients against charges that they have poisoned water supplies, irradiated humans via nuclear-plant spills, etc. Their site lists a number of publications for sale which have George listed as the primary author. Their documentation states: The Washington Legal Foundation(WLF) established its Legal Studies Division to develop substantive, credible materials designed to legitimise WLF's free enterprise agenda in courtrooms, and with policy-makers and the media. These audiences have long been subjected to, and influenced by, the ideas of special interest activists and government bureaucrats hostile to economic liberties and limited government. WLF's Legal Studies Division counters their pernicious influence. 18 Feb 1997: Carlo's ISPP runs another Nocebo conference which is organised by his company, HESG under the guise of the ISPP.
Carlo's sideline drug interests	Pharma Pharma At some time in the years 1994-5 Carlo became Technical Director for two associated drug companies nominally based in Sydney, Australia, but also with offices in Florida, and Washington (at his office address). These are Pharma Pacific, which seems to manufacture and distribute immune suppression drugs and vaccines, and Pharma Pacific Management Pty. Ltd, which is perhaps the holding company, but appears also to be involved in government lobbying on behalf of a wider group of companies. March 1995: An AEGIS report in the Chicago Tribune (14 March) and USA Today (15 March) "Miracle Cure for AIDS" reveals that Louis Farrakhan and Carlo (working for Pharma Pacific) were slugging it out over who had US rights to Immunex. Carlo says his firm has the tradename and that the drug was not legally on sale in the US. Another Doctor Carlo (Donald, quite possibly a close relative) runs an Seattle drug manufacturing company which produces Immunex, so this is probably some sort of a family business.
.	Feb 16-20 1996: Carlo writes on behalf of the "Institute for Science and Public Policy Polio Vaccines Advisory Panel" (which looks like an industry lobby group) to the American Committee on Immunisation Practices (ACIP -- which advises the US government on immunisation). His letter promotes continuation of past immunisation practices. The Institute for Science and Public Policy Polio Vaccines Advisory Panel met February 16, 1996, as part of the most comprehensive review to date of the public health impact of changes to the polio vaccine recommendation currently used in America. The independent institute advisory panel, which expects to complete a report for the peer reviewed medical literature within 45 days, is comprised of prominent international scientists, top state health officials, infectious disease and epidemiology experts, and other noted academicians. In a February 20, 1996, letter to Dr. Jeffrey Davis, chairman of the government's ACIP, Dr. George Carlo cautioned that the institute's panel "has expressed reservations about an immunisation schedule that involves the addition of inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) administered as a separate antigen." He added "there is unanimity among the advisory panel members that the proposed change in the current polio recommendations poses a significant risk to public health by compromising vaccination coverage overall and reducing needed protection against wild polio virus transmission." Wild polio virus is endemic in many parts of the world and remains a worldwide public health threat. In commenting on the scope of the work regarding potential changes in the country's polio vaccine policy, Carlo said "we are involved collectively in an unprecedented and critical public health process. The potential impact of this policy change on global public health commands that all relevant information be thoughtfully considered in the decision making process." The letter and attachments to ACIP are available upon request by telephoning the Institute at 202-833-9500. (Public Health Weekly, undated)
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