Just because someone is a "scientist" does not make them some sort of transcended human incapable of error or lying.
This. I'm a little sick of the "scientist" worship. Most of them are just like the "experts" in any other field. How many times have you met a stupid doctor? A stupid IT guy? A stupid repairman? A stupid teacher? I've worked with plenty of other scientists who cut corners, make dumb decisions, or who flat out don't have a clue what they're talking about.
At one of the manufacturing plants for the company I work for, there was a guy with a doctorate who talked at a level that was way over everyone's head. The people there just assumed they were too uneducated to understand him, so naturally they figured he was the smartest guy around. I first spoke with him in a group Skype meeting at one point, and he was talking data and statistics and using all sorts of big vocabulary. Since he was in my territory, it didn't take me long to realize that he was completely full of crap. He was razzle-dazzling everybody and they didn't know any better, and therefore they didn't question his decisions. Later, when I started to point this out to some of his coworkers, they were like, "But he has to be smart. He has a doctorate." ... /sigh.
It's the same way with a lot of scientists. To those who don't work with them, they see the title and think they're crusaders for truth and reason, who aren't influenced by petty things like "money" and "bias". Sure, some of them are that way, but they're all human. Also, peer-reviewed doesn't mean squat if your peers are idiots or have something to gain from your conclusions.
And that's my rant for the day.