Corporations in the USA use "mercenary science" to whitewash harmful products and drugs. David Michaels, former Obama's Assistant Secratary of Labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), explains how "mercenary science" - science-for-hire, contracted out by chemical and pharmaceutical companies to prove that their harmful products aren't harmful. The idea that science and truth could diverge is profoundly troubling for our entire civilization. 

While the vast majority of scientists, both employed publicly and privately, are honest and do their work as part of a larger quest for truth, there are a few notable exceptions. Specifically, a few mercenary science consulting firms have been very effective at helping corporations continue selling harmful chemicals and drugs long after they should have stopped.

Michaels, who has written a book on the topic titled "The Triumph of Doubt: Dark Money and the Science of Deception," has been studying this problem for years. Michaels is now a public health professor at George Washington University. His book reveals that dark money and for-profit science is quite literally killing Americans.  

Mercenary science is there to help make the world a better place. But actually it is used by consulting companies whose business model is to provide reports and testimonies to corporations, so they can continue to market dangerous products or activities without being hindered by regulation or by compensating the people they've hurt.