Thread by @genologos

A mini-rant on science and current politics:

It's time to quit asking Kirsten Gillibrand about Al Franken and start asking her about her work with Phillip Morris during the most consequential period of litigation against tobacco companies.

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death worldwide. 16 million Americans are living with a smoking-caused disease. Smoking kills nearly half a million Americans per year, and 7 million annually worldwide

who.int/news-room/fact…
cdc.gov/tobacco/data_s…

We've known the link between smoking and cancer since before the 60's. For decades, tobacco companies were successful merchants of doubt.

pbs.org/newshour/healt…

They bought off medical experts to question the link between smoking and cancer, misled the public about the risks of their product, and attempted to smear scientists who were showing the lethal consequences of smoking.

At the same time, tobacco companies' own scientific labs also found links between smoking and cancer. And yet the tobacco execs all got up before Congress in the 90's and swore they didn't believe the link between smoking and cancer.

Accountability, in some measure anyway, finally reached these companies in the late 90's, thanks in large part to heroic efforts by activists, journalists, and the FDA.

Kessler's A Question of Intent is one of several good books to read on this:
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…

During this time, Kirsten Gillibrand worked to defend Philip Morris from legal accountability, to help them hide the fact that they'd been lying about what the company knew about smoking and cancer:

nyti.ms/2kxXcMK

As far as I can tell, she's dodged the story, rather than come to terms with the cause she worked for. Today, in response to a question about Al Franken, she talked about how important it is to stand up for what's right.

She needs to be asked, did she stand up for what's right during the years of legal action against companies that sell one of the world's most lethal products? If she didn't then, what does she have to say about it now? She should not be given a pass on this.

If a politician running as a progressive had in the past worked for Exxon Mobil to muddy the waters on climate change, would we tolerate it? One who worked to advance the deadly interests of Philip Morris should be considered in the same way.