Industries disguise their lobbying by having proxies argue for them.

Evidence

By 1945, the lead industry realized that it had a credibility problem in making its case for the safety of lead. Lead producers concealed their efforts to negate evidence of harmful effects by having proxies do it for them. The head of the Lead Industries Association (LIA) wrote to its executive committee: … I feel that the word of the Lead Industries Association might carry even more weight if some other agency, used as a screen, were utilized in order to do the job for us… . This point may only be academic, however, as the plan to be submitted calls for the help of nearly all agencies in a position to do so. It is obviously not possible to procure the services of any education institution for what would be, in part, publicity or public relations purposes. (Wormser, 1945b) In its 1956 annual report, the Lead Industries Association claimed that it had partially suppressed evidence of adverse effects through editing: “Getting wind of a forthcoming report on sustainability of plastic pipe for potable Bandura_1e_ch05. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1769

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the tobacco industry’s use of front groups and “white coat” consultants to manufacture doubt about smoking’s harms. — connects to: Insurance-company lobbyists dressed up compensation-law gutting as reform — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 557