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Dr. Goodman, who holds a doctorate in toxicology from Johns Hopkins College, is likely one of the firm’s most outstanding scientists, serving to to defend industries as diversified as tobacco, plastics and fossil fuels towards well being issues — a mirrored image of the widespread observe during which varied industries rent consultants who publicly assist their place.
She helped develop expert testimony for Philip Morris in a class-action lawsuit that went to trial in 2015, portraying the tobacco large’s best-selling Marlboro Lights cigarettes as being safer for people who smoke. In a call for the plaintiffs, Choose Edward Leibensperger of Massachusetts Superior Court docket stated Gradient’s evaluation “was proven to be inconsistent and opposite to the consensus of the scientific group.”
At Gradient, Dr. Goodman additionally co-authored an article, sponsored by the now-defunct American Plastics Council, criticizing dozens of educational articles that had raised issues over Bisphonal-A, or BPA, a chemical used to make laborious plastics resembling water and juice bottles. A body of research means that BPA and different bisphenols can act as endocrine disruptors that intervene with hormones within the physique. The chemical substances have been linked to reduced fertility, earlier puberty in boys and behavioral problems in youngsters.
In congressional testimony, Dr. Goodman has argued against regulatory requirements for mercury and air toxics, and has criticized studies linking air pollution and mortality, often figuring out herself as an impartial scientist, regardless of Gradient’s work for company shoppers. In articles funded by the American Petroleum Institute, she has additionally attacked analysis linking publicity to smog-causing ozone to deaths from respiratory ailments.
Frederick vom Saal, a professor emeritus of biology on the College of Missouri, is among the many scientists whose work Dr. Goodman has criticized. “There are over 1,000 publications on BPA, however she claimed none of them stand as much as their requirements,” he stated. He stated her argument is actually, “‘You don’t want to fret about something as a result of there’s so little publicity,’” he stated, including that many years of analysis has proven that to not be true.
Gradient declined to remark.
Dr. Goodman’s presence in Multnomah shocked folks on the county listening to. The county, which incorporates most of Portland, not too long ago handed a decision geared toward decreasing the well being results of air air pollution.
“We have been all taking a look at one another going, ‘Who’s that? Why is she right here?’” stated Melanie Plaut, a retired doctor in Oregon who was attending to induce for larger scrutiny of fuel stoves. “There have been simply so many factors that wanted to be refuted.”
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