As Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway covered extensively in their book Merchants of Doubt, and Oreskes and Geoffrey Supran have continued to highlight in their work at Harvard, we've seen the exact same sort of science denial with smoking, climate change, and now Covid-19. Oreskes even found some of the specific scientists who worked first for tobacco and then for oil. But there was something else at play too: science denial grew out of the long-standing practice of fake experts, expert bureaus, and research centers, pioneered by Ivy Lee and deployed by every generation of PR experts, on behalf of multiple experts. There are a few different forms science denial takes: flat out denial (the Earth is not warming), deflection (the Earth is warming, but it's not us causing it, it's volcanoes!), and delay (yes it's a problem, but we have plenty of time to deal with it).
Industries that use or have used it: Coal, food, guns, oil, tobacco
