NUCLEAR power, genetically modified crops, prescription drugs, passive smoking – name the debate, and you will find opinion pieces on it by the most senior figures in science in newspapers and magazines across the world. What is bewildering, if not scandalous, is that some of these supposedly independent experts conceal their relationship with the industries they are writing about. Now an even more insidious trend is emerging: scientists are signing articles they haven’t even written.
Take, for example, the way the US nuclear industry has been approaching public relations. Like nuclear companies everywhere, those in the US have long been trying…
