In a November exposé for The Intercept, “How Self-Appointed Guardians of ‘Sound Science’ Tip the Scales Toward Industry,” Liza Gross details the tobacco ties and industry connections of Sense About Science, a group trying to shape science media coverage that opened a US office in 2014.

“Sense About Science claims to champion transparency” but “does not always disclose when its sources on controversial matters are scientists with ties to the industries under examination,” Gross wrote.

She advised reporters to be wary: “When journalists rightly ask who sponsors research into the risks of, say, asbestos, or synthetic chemicals, they’d be well advised to question the evidence Sense About Science presents in these debates as well.”

This fact sheet provides background about Sense About Science USA, its director Trevor Butterworth, and the ties both have to industry propaganda efforts.

Defending chemicals and junk food

Sense About Science was founded in 2002 in the United Kingdom by Dick Taverne, an English politician and businessman, as a lobby effort to “put science at the heart of public discussion,” according to its website.

The US arm, Sense About Science USA, launched in Brooklyn in 2014 under the directorship of Trevor Butterworth, a writer with a long history of spinning science to the benefit of the chemical and food industries.

Over his career, Butterworth has published many arguments for deregulation and attempts to refute concerns about chemicals and food products – for example he has defended phthalates, BPA, vinyl plastic, fracking, lead in lipstick, formaldehyde in baby soaps, corn syrup, sugary sodas and artificial sweeteners.

Butterworth’s articles share a common theme: attacking and trying to discredit science, scientists, journalists and consumer groups that raise concerns about products important to the chemical and junk food industries.