Companies attempting to evade costly occupational disease lawsuits can make effective use of the courts to influence the scientific literature, a detailed review has illustrated. The paper in the Journal of Law and Policy “attempts to examine the impact of litigation on the scientific literature. Using as an example the issues of asbestos disease among automobile mechanics, we examine how the contours and content of the scientific literature are directly and intentionally shaped by parties seeking to succeed in litigation… We posit that if not for the litigation, or fear of  future litigation, the body of scientific literature about a particular topic would be quite different. Certain components of the literature would not have been created, others would have been modified or delayed.” The authors conclude: “Litigants have not only added to the literature papers

supportive of their position in court, they have attempted to subtract from the literature, pressuring government agencies to withdraw or modify documents they prefer not to have available to their opponents. As a result, litigation may have a direct and undesirable effect on the injury and disease prevention activities of government agencies.”

David Michaels and Celeste Monforton. How litigation shapes the scientific literature, Journal of Law and Policy, volume 15, issue 3, pages 1137-1169, 2007