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When public health researchers investigate the impacts of tobacco, alcohol, and ultra-processed foods, they often face more than just scientific challenges. This eye-opening episode reveals the disturbing tactics used to silence and intimidate scientists working to protect public health. From orchestrated smear campaigns labeling researchers as "extremists" to cases of physical threats and violence, we uncover how powerful industry interests work to undermine critical health research.
Through interviews with researchers like Karen Evans-Reeves, who shares her firsthand experience of surveillance and legal threats, the episode examines the personal and professional toll of these intimidation campaigns. We trace shocking incidents across multiple continents, including cases of researchers being followed, death threats, and tragic violence against family members.
The episode explores how these tactics create a chilling effect on vital public health research, potentially delaying crucial interventions that could save lives. We also investigate solutions, from institutional protections for researchers to regulatory approaches for preventing industry interference in scientific inquiry.
Join us for an unflinching look at the hidden pressures facing those who dare to put public health before profit, and what's at stake for science – and society – if they're silenced.
Source:Â
‘Nicotine Nazis’: the brickbats hurled at scientists researching tobacco’s harms
This is Heliox: Where Evidence Meets Empathy
Independent, moderated, timely, deep, gentle, clinical, global, and community conversations about things that matter. Breathe Easy, we go deep and lightly surface the big ideas.
Disclosure: This podcast uses AI-generated synthetic voices for a material portion of the audio content, in line with Apple Podcasts guidelines.
We make rigorous science accessible, accurate, and unforgettable.
Produced by Michelle Bruecker and Scott Bleackley, it features reviews of emerging research and ideas from leading thinkers, curated under our creative direction with AI assistance for voice, imagery, and composition. Systemic voices and illustrative images of people are representative tools, not depictions of specific individuals.
We dive deep into peer-reviewed research, pre-prints, and major scientific works—then bring them to life through the stories of the researchers themselves. Complex ideas become clear. Obscure discoveries become conversation starters. And you walk away understanding not just what scientists discovered, but why it matters and how they got there.
Independent, moderated, timely, deep, gentle, clinical, global, and community conversations about things that matter. Breathe Easy, we go deep and lightly surface the big ideas.
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