The President’s Science Advisory Committee (later called the Office of Science and Technology) was a group of leading scientists who formally advised the president on science-related policy issues during the Cold War, from 1957 to 1973.
President’s Science Advisory Committee (PSAC) Quotes in Merchants of Doubt
The Merchants of Doubt quotes below are all either spoken by President’s Science Advisory Committee (PSAC) or refer to President’s Science Advisory Committee (PSAC). For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 7
Quotes
The Kennedy PSAC report, Use of Pesticides: A Report of the President’s Science Advisory Committee, is notable in hindsight as much for what it did not do as for what it did. The scientists did not claim that the hazards of persistent pesticides were “proven,” “demonstrated,” “certain,” or even well understood; they simply concluded that the weight of evidence was sufficient to warrant policy action to control DDT.
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Both science and democracy worked as they were supposed to.
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President’s Science Advisory Committee (PSAC) Term Timeline in Merchants of Doubt
The timeline below shows where the term President’s Science Advisory Committee (PSAC) appears in Merchants of Doubt. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 7
...pesticide industry—and even some fellow scientists—started attacking her. Then, the official President’s Science Advisory Committee (PSAC) studied DDT and concluded that the government should regulate pesticides immediately, because they pose such...
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Oreskes and Conway point out that the PSAC report focused on the overall evidence, not on whether “the hazards of persistent pesticides were...
(full context)
Conclusion
...the tobacco company Philip Morris. Shortly thereafter, President Nixon disbanded the President’s Science Advisory Committee (PSAC), which had made the regulation process for DDT so efficient. Meanwhile, corporations and conservative donors...
(full context)
