boutons_deux
07-08-2014, 09:01 AM
The thing most people don't realize as they worry over the dangers of stress, Petticrew says, is that much of this foundational scientific research on stress was funded and guided by a very particular sponsor.
"What's never really been appreciated is that the tobacco industry was a major funder and stimulant of research on stress," he says. "Specifically Selye's work, but also research on Type A behavior (http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199828340/obo-9780199828340-0117.xml). Type A personality is to a large extent a construct of the tobacco industry."
What they've discovered is that both Selye's work and much of the work around Type A personality were profoundly influenced by cigarette manufacturers. They were interested in promoting the concept of stress because it allowed them to argue that it was stress — not cigarettes — that was to blame for heart disease and cancer.
"In the case of Selye they vetted ... the content of the paper, they agreed the wording of papers," says Petticrew, "tobacco industry lawyers actually influenced the content of his writings, they suggested to him things that he should comment on."
They also, Petticrew says, spent a huge amount of money funding his research. All of this is significant, Petticrew says, because Selye's influence over our ideas about stress are hard to overstate. It wasn't just that Selye came up with the concept, but in his time he was a tremendously respected figure.
http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2014/07/01/hans-selye-a566da1532f89f93b1d37c5bc7d7c63e4d1c958e-s3-c85.jpgi (http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/07/07/325946892/the-secret-history-behind-the-science-of-stress#)
Endocrinologist Hans Selye popularized the idea of stress. His experiments with rats showed that prolonged exposure to stress led to physiological changes in the tissue of rats.
"Selye was one of the major scientists of the 20th century; he was nominated for a Nobel Prize 10 times," Petticrew says. "So I feel it's impossible and it's misleading to talk about stress without acknowledging the fact that he had a very, very close working relationship with the tobacco industry. And they helped him to shape his ideas, and he helped them to shape theirs."
This is also true of the work around Type A personalities and the notion that a highly stressed personality — not cigarette consumption — caused heart disease, particularly in men.
Petticrew says that though early studies, some of which were funded by tobacco companies, showed a connection between Type A and heart attacks, as more studies have piled up the original findings of Friedman and Rosenman have been undermined.
"There have been very few studies which have actually shown that Type A behavior is a risk factor for illness, certainly for coronary heart disease," Petticrew says. "Of the studies that do show that, and there are only four, in three of them the researchers had some contact or money from the tobacco industry. That's not to say, and absolutely shouldn't be said, that all Type A behavior research is tainted by tobacco money. But it has had a major skewing effect on the field which I think has been completely unrecognized."
the narrative of stress promoted by the tobacco industry through research and marketing is alive and well. A ghost from a long time ago continues to shape how we see, and experience, stress.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/07/07/325946892/the-secret-history-behind-the-science-of-stress
So exactly like BigOil is financing AGW denials, and
BigChem is financing denial of their shit killing bees,
cig mfrs financed, perverted stress "studies" and Type A "science" to deny that cigarettes were the cause of heart disease, etc.
"What's never really been appreciated is that the tobacco industry was a major funder and stimulant of research on stress," he says. "Specifically Selye's work, but also research on Type A behavior (http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199828340/obo-9780199828340-0117.xml). Type A personality is to a large extent a construct of the tobacco industry."
What they've discovered is that both Selye's work and much of the work around Type A personality were profoundly influenced by cigarette manufacturers. They were interested in promoting the concept of stress because it allowed them to argue that it was stress — not cigarettes — that was to blame for heart disease and cancer.
"In the case of Selye they vetted ... the content of the paper, they agreed the wording of papers," says Petticrew, "tobacco industry lawyers actually influenced the content of his writings, they suggested to him things that he should comment on."
They also, Petticrew says, spent a huge amount of money funding his research. All of this is significant, Petticrew says, because Selye's influence over our ideas about stress are hard to overstate. It wasn't just that Selye came up with the concept, but in his time he was a tremendously respected figure.
http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2014/07/01/hans-selye-a566da1532f89f93b1d37c5bc7d7c63e4d1c958e-s3-c85.jpgi (http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/07/07/325946892/the-secret-history-behind-the-science-of-stress#)
Endocrinologist Hans Selye popularized the idea of stress. His experiments with rats showed that prolonged exposure to stress led to physiological changes in the tissue of rats.
"Selye was one of the major scientists of the 20th century; he was nominated for a Nobel Prize 10 times," Petticrew says. "So I feel it's impossible and it's misleading to talk about stress without acknowledging the fact that he had a very, very close working relationship with the tobacco industry. And they helped him to shape his ideas, and he helped them to shape theirs."
This is also true of the work around Type A personalities and the notion that a highly stressed personality — not cigarette consumption — caused heart disease, particularly in men.
Petticrew says that though early studies, some of which were funded by tobacco companies, showed a connection between Type A and heart attacks, as more studies have piled up the original findings of Friedman and Rosenman have been undermined.
"There have been very few studies which have actually shown that Type A behavior is a risk factor for illness, certainly for coronary heart disease," Petticrew says. "Of the studies that do show that, and there are only four, in three of them the researchers had some contact or money from the tobacco industry. That's not to say, and absolutely shouldn't be said, that all Type A behavior research is tainted by tobacco money. But it has had a major skewing effect on the field which I think has been completely unrecognized."
the narrative of stress promoted by the tobacco industry through research and marketing is alive and well. A ghost from a long time ago continues to shape how we see, and experience, stress.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/07/07/325946892/the-secret-history-behind-the-science-of-stress
So exactly like BigOil is financing AGW denials, and
BigChem is financing denial of their shit killing bees,
cig mfrs financed, perverted stress "studies" and Type A "science" to deny that cigarettes were the cause of heart disease, etc.