Desmog Video

Frederick Seitz

Frederick Seitz and the Tobacco Industry

Seitz is the former principal scientific advisor to the RJ Reynolds medical research program.

A May 2006 Vanity Fair article by Mark Hertsgaard outlines the central role Seitz in a $45 million "medical research" program in the 1970s and '80s for tobacco-giant RJ Reynolds:

'They didn't want us looking at the health effects of cigarette smoking,' says Seitz, who is now 94— but it nevertheless served the tobacco industry's purposes. Throughout those years, the industry frequently ran ads in newspapers and magazines citing its multi-million-dollar research program as proof of its commitment to science—and arguing that the evidence on the health effects of smoking was mixed.

Last year, DeSmogBlog uncovered a 1989 internal memo from tobacco company Philip Morris explaining that Seitz "is quite elderly and not sufficiently rational to offer advice."

To quote: "I spoke with Bill Hobbs [RJ Reynolds] about arranging an appointment for you with Dr. Fred Seitz, former head of Rockerfeller University and the principal scientific advisor to the RJ Reynolds medical research program. Bill told me that Dr. Seitz is quite elderly and not sufficiently rational to offer advice."

Seitz and Global Warming

Seitz is listed as the Chair of an organization called the Science and Environment Policy Project (SEPP). The founder of SEPP is Fred Singer, a very well-known climate change denier. Singer is also well-known for his willingness to take money from the oil industry.

Seitz and the Oregon Petition

in 1998, an initiative called the "Oregon Petition" was organized by Fred Seitz and another individual named Art Robinson.

The Oregon Petition has been used by climate change deniers as proof that there is no scientific consensus, however they fail to note the controversy surrounding the petition itself. In April 1998, Robinson’s Oregon Institute, along with the Exxon-backed George C. Marshall Institute, co-published the infamous “Oregon Petition” claiming to have collected 17,000 signatories to a document arguing against the realities of global warming.

The petition and the documents included were all made to look like official papers from the prestigious National Academy of Science. They weren’t, and this attempt to mislead has been well-documented.

Along with the petition there was a cover letter from Seitz. Also attached to the petition was an apparent “research paper” titled: Environmental Effects of Increased Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide. The paper was made to mimic what a research paper would look like in the National Academy’s prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy journal. The authors of the paper were Robinson, Sallie Baliunas, Willie Soon (both oil-backed scientists) and Robinson’s son Zachary.

The petition was so misleading that the National Academy issued a news release stating:

The petition project was a deliberate attempt to mislead scientists and to rally them in an attempt to undermine support for the Kyoto Protocol. The petition was not based on a review of the science of global climate change, nor were its signers experts in the field of climate science.