Merchants of Doubt

Merchants of doubt are people who spread doubt and confusion about a topic, often science, to make it harder for people to understand what is really happening. They might do this by using confusing language, making up numbers and facts, trying to make science sound more complex than it is, or just denying that a problem exists. They often do this when there is lots of money at stake and powerful people who don't want to make changes. So, they try to make the problem seem too complicated to understand or too hard to fix, in order to block any progress.