Collective Scientific Testimony and Trustworthy Public Health Agencies

Abstract How should we evaluate the trustworthiness of public health agencies (PHAs) such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA)? This paper shall answer this question by arguing that PHAs testify as a collective and that conditions of trustworthiness must be evaluated at the collective level. The evaluative criteria consist of scientific competence, justified moral and political considerations and proper institutional design.