But you see, that's the just the beginning of the problem. Suppose the company's research was cited thousands of times in the press, as the authoritative standard of proof—and anyone who disputed that research was labeled a conspiracy theorist and a quack and a danger to the community and an anti-science lunatic.

Would you begin to suspect the company had awesome media connections? Would you suspect some very powerful people were backing the company?

This is exactly the situation with the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Read these two quotes:

The government's Vaccine for Children Program (a CDC organization) purchases vaccines for about 50 percent of children in the U.S." (The Atlantic, February 10, 2015)

"The CDC currently spends over $4 billion purchasing vaccines [annually] from drug makers…" (Health Impact News, October 24, 2016)