There is plenty of room for a healthy science-based environmentalism, but finding the room in the American political house has always been difficult. The current administration brings together the horseshoe wacko excesses of the worm-brained Robert Kennedy, Jr., and the crony capitalism of Felonious Trump. In this toxic, post-truth milieu, environmental groups such as Sierra Club and Greenpeace are both complaining about their setbacks,[1] as well as stepping up their own propaganda.| Schachtman Law
Egilman was sufficiently clever to discern that if his “method” led to a conclusion that silicone gel breast implants cause autoimmune disease, but the Institute of Medicine, along with court-appointed experts, found no basis for a causal conclusion, then by modus tollens Egilman’s “method” was suspect and must be rejected.[1] This awareness likely explains the extent to which he went to cover up his involvement in the plaintiffs’ causation case in the silicone litigation.| schachtmanlaw.com
Victor Elliot Schwartz died late last month. His passing was marked with several obituaries, from his colleagues, friends, and family, which marked his many achievements.[1] At the defense bar, Victor was truly a thought leader and tort scholar, as well as an advocate for sensible reform. Victor’s work had tremendous influence, although sadly, because of a rapacious, rent-seeking lawsuit industry, not as much influence as it should have had.| schachtmanlaw.com
Victor Elliot Schwartz died late last month. His passing was marked with several obituaries, from his colleagues, friends, and family, which marked his many achievements.[1] At the defense bar, Victor was truly a thought leader and tort scholar, as well as an advocate for sensible reform. Victor’s work had tremendous influence, although sadly, because of a rapacious, rent-seeking lawsuit industry, not as much influence as it should have had.| Schachtman Law
A few egregious articles in the biomedical literature have begun to endorse explicitly asymmetrical standards for inferring causation in the context of environmental or occupational exposures. Very little if anything is needed for inferring causation, and nothing counts against causation. If authors refuse to infer causation, then they are agents of “industry,” epidemiologic malfeasors, and doubt mongers.| schachtmanlaw.com
Michael Mann, formerly a climate scientist at Penn State University, is no stranger to controversy.[1] As an outspoken advocate for climate change, he has attracted close scrutiny and harsh criticism. Several right-of-center commentators criticized Mann’s work in potentially defamatory terms of “misconduct,” or “manipulation,” or data torturing. One blogger likened Mann’s conduct to Penn State’s Jerry Sandusky’s sexual abuse scandal.[2]| schachtmanlaw.com
Artificial intelligence poses some distinct dangers to lawyers as evidenced by the cockup of the lawfirm of Morgan & Morgan in submitting a brief with bogus citations. It is hard to imagine a more serious dereliction of professional duty than in submitting a brief with citations to cases that do not exist, and which no lawyer could have ever have read and selected as appropriate to cite.[1] Apparently, a user of A.I. cannot simply direct the computer to stop making stuff up, any more than we ...| schachtmanlaw.com
Artificial intelligence poses some distinct dangers to lawyers as evidenced by the cockup of the lawfirm of Morgan & Morgan in submitting a brief with bogus citations. It is hard to imagine a more serious dereliction of professional duty than in submitting a brief with citations to cases that do not exist, and which no lawyer could have ever have read and selected as appropriate to cite.[1] Apparently, a user of A.I. cannot simply direct the computer to stop making stuff up, any more than we ...| schachtmanlaw.com
Back in November 2024, I posted that the fourth edition of the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence was completed, and that its publication was imminent. I based my prediction upon the National Academies’ website that reported that the project had been completed. Alas, when no Manual was forth coming, I checked back, and the project was, and is as of today, marked as “in progress.” The NASEM website provides no explanation for the retrograde movement. Could the Manual have been DOGE...| schachtmanlaw.com
Back in November 2024, I posted that the fourth edition of the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence was completed, and that its publication was imminent. I based my prediction upon the National Academies’ website that reported that the project had been completed. Alas, when no Manual was forth coming, I checked back, and the project was, and is as of today, marked as “in progress.” The NASEM website provides no explanation for the retrograde movement. Could the Manual have been DOGE...| Schachtman Law
On May 20, 2025, as announced, FDA Commissioner Martin Makary held his panel discussion on talc in food and medications.[1] The discussion lasted just under two hours, and is available on YouTube for your viewing and perhaps your amusement. Makary opened and closed the event with what could have been the plaintiffs’ opening and closing statements from one of the many talc trials that have clouded courtrooms across the land. He asked rhetorically: “Why don’t we talk about at our oncology...| schachtmanlaw.com
On May 20, 2025, as announced, FDA Commissioner Martin Makary held his panel discussion on talc in food and medications.[1] The discussion lasted just under two hours, and is available on YouTube for your viewing and perhaps your amusement. Makary opened and closed the event with what could have been the plaintiffs’ opening and closing […]| Schachtman Law
A couple of weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal ran an editorial that complained that FDA Commissioner Makary had touted dodgy evidence about the potential harms of talcum powder in food and medications,[1] and called an improper public meeting to discuss his concerns. The editorial noted the procedural irregularity of convening a meeting to review evidence of the supposed harms of talc in food and drugs, without proper notice and public comment.[2] The panel met just four days after the FDA...| Schachtman Law
For the moment, in the American legal academy, there seems to be a fair amount of support for the idea that the burden of proof in fact-finding is centered around a vigorous contest between the plausibility of competing stories advanced by the litigants. Professors Ronald Allen and Alex Stein, two well-respected evidence law scholars have […]| Schachtman Law
Earlier this year, President Felonious Trump fired Gwynne Wilcox, a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and Cathy A. Harris, the chair of the Federal Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). Wilcox sued, and the district court in the District of Columbia enjoined the President from removing her. Federal statutory law prohibits the president […]| Schachtman Law
While waiting for the much delayed fourth edition of the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, you may want to take a look at a recent law review issue on expert witnesses issues. Back in November 2024, the Columbia Science & Technology Law Review held its symposium at the Columbia Law Review on “Judging Science.” The symposium explored current judicial practice for, and treatment of, scientific expert witness testimony in the United States. Because the symposium took place at Columbia...| Schachtman Law
Several years ago, I submitted a brief, which I had written, in a New York case. When a co-defendant’s counsel filed the same brief, without acknowledging that it was plagiarised, I was annoyed. It seemed to me that such plagiarism clearly has professional and general ethical implications, especially if the plagiarists charged clients for writing something that they stole from another person.[1]| Schachtman Law
Michael Mann, formerly a climate scientist at Penn State University, is no stranger to controversy.[1] As an outspoken advocate for climate change, he has attracted close scrutiny and harsh criticism. Several right-of-center commentators criticized Mann’s work in potentially defamatory terms of “misconduct,” or “manipulation,” or data torturing. One blogger likened Mann’s conduct to Penn State’s Jerry Sandusky’s sexual abuse scandal.[2]| Schachtman Law
Artificial intelligence poses some distinct dangers to lawyers as evidenced by the cockup of the lawfirm of Morgan & Morgan in submitting a brief with bogus citations. It is hard to imagine a more serious dereliction of professional duty than in submitting a brief with citations to cases that do not exist, and which no lawyer could have ever have read and selected as appropriate to cite.[1] Apparently, a user of A.I. cannot simply direct the computer to stop making stuff up, any more than we ...| Schachtman Law
We now have a Secretary of Health and Human Services who has lost part of his brain to a worm and who has lied about pharmaceuticals and vaccines to advance his financial interests as a lawyer. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (Junior), says he will be open minded, which I suppose means that the worm can come and go as it pleases. Junior has made a career of radical environmental activism, anti-vaccine quackery, and shameless self-promotion. It is hard to imagine that those stripes will go away. In any...| Schachtman Law
Another multi-district litigation (MDL) has hit a jarring speed bump. Claims for Parkinson’s disease (PD), allegedly caused by exposure to paraquat dichloride (paraquat), were consolidated, in June 2021, for pre-trial coordination in MDL No. 3004, in the Southern District of Illinois, before Chief Judge Nancy J. Rosenstengel. Like many health-effects litigation claims, the plaintiffs’ claims in these paraquat cases turn on epidemiologic evidence. To make their causation case in the first ...| Schachtman Law
The incretin-mimetic litigation involved claims that the use of Byetta, Januvia, Janumet, and Victoza medications causes pancreatic cancer. All four medications treat diabetes mellitus through incretin hormones, which stimulate or support insulin production, which in turn lowers blood sugar. On Planet Earth, the only scientists who contend that these medications cause pancreatic cancer are those hired by the lawsuit industry.| Schachtman Law