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Companies Subpoena Publishers and Reviewers
By Gwendolyn Bradley
In response to lawsuits over the health problems of former chemical company employees, lawyers representing a group of chemical companies have engaged in the unusual tactic of issuing subpoenas to publishers and peer reviewers of a scholarly book, and hiring another scholar to write a rebuttal of the book. At issue is the 2002 volume Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution, which was jointly published by the University of California Press and the Milbank Memorial Fund, a health policy foundation. Using thousands of internal company documents made public during the discovery phases of lawsuits against chemical and lead companies, the book argues that in the 1960s and 1970s the chemical industry covered up a link between the chemical compound vinyl chloride monomer and cancer. The book's authors are David Rosner, a professor of history and sociomedical science at Columbia University, and Gerald Markowitz, professor of history at the City University of New York.
In Douglass M. Spann v. Airco, Inc., a vinyl chloride case scheduled for trial in September, Markowitz, who is serving as an expert witness for the plaintiffs, was deposed by lawyers for Monsanto, Dow, Union Carbide, Shell, Goodyear, and other chemical companies. Following his deposition, the press and foundation that published Deceit and Denial were subpoenaed for all records relating to the book. Five of eight outside peer reviewers were also subpoenaed to provide their records related to the book and to appear at depositions. The subpoenas were inappropriate, says Alexandra Dahne, a re-presentative of the press, but perhaps not surprising given the amount of money at stake for the chemical companies. "We fully stand behind the authors, and our process of review for all UC Press books. Deceit and Denial was meticulously researched," she adds.
The companies also hired Philip Scranton, a professor of history at Rutgers University in Camden, to write a report on the book and on materials submitted by Markowitz in his capacity as expert witness in the Spann case. Scranton claimed that Markowitz's work was marked by "numerous, severe, and varied" professional and scholarly deficiencies, violating accepted principles of integrity, accuracy, and documentation (though it deals with the book coauthored by Markowitz and Rosner, Scranton's report focuses on Markowitz since Markowitz was the one who was an expert witness in the trial at hand). Calling Scranton's report part of "an attempt by the chemical industry to undermine our testimony about the history of the chemical manufacturers' knowledge of danger," the book's authors posted it and a detailed rebuttal on a Web site along with other materials relating to the situation.
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