...Peterson untangles the web that connects pharmaceutical giants like Merck to professors at big public land-grant universities, who not only act as paid researchers to develop new products but also as shills who appeal directly to cattle feedlot operators...

In certain ways, the close relationship between animal scientists and pharmaceutical companies has never served the public well...

She [Peterson] paints a devastating picture: Public universities that have given up the pretense of serving the public interest and have instead have lapsed into research and (to an extent) marketing arms of large corporations...

Faculty work with industry is governed by confidentiality rules that veil it from public view...

In effect, the pharmaceutical industry is producing drugs that make animals sick, not well—and enlisting academics to promote their dubious products...