Captured science: how special interests influence the scientific process and impact the knowledge base for regulatory decision-making on chemical risks

Sound management of chemical risk in our products, food and workplaces requires a sound and reliable knowledge base.

This project will study how special interests influence regulatory decision-making on chemicals through capture of the knowledge production (design and performance of research) and knowledge exchange arena (scientific publication), which we tentatively label scientific capture.

It thus connects to the role of the scientist as an expert and the funding venue as a means to get access to that expertise at universities, but also how through funding or employing scientists, special interests use scientific publication to amplify messages to their favour.

Using methodologies from systematic reviews and metasciences, we will perform a series of case-studies of the published toxicological data for a controversial group of chemicals called perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

We will analyse the conclusions of these studies from the perspective of researchers’ affiliation, funding, as well as type and venue of publication.

The findings will be used to develop the theory of scientific capture and to identify through which mechanisms it takes place.

Scientific capture refers to the process of special interests capturing the knowledge production and knowledge exchange arena.

The overall aim is to produce knowledge that can be used to manage the influence from financial interests in the regulatory decision-making on chemical risks.