But only because peer review and repeatability increases the number of people in the pool whose credibility can be attached to the research. If you don't trust

But only because peer review and repeatability increases the number of people in the pool whose credibility can be attached to the research. If you don't trust anyone, why would you ever trust any research that wasn't done 100% by you under conditions 100% controlled by you (which I'm sure includes exactly no research)? Don't trust Monsanto? Okay. But what if one does trust some government lab that repeated it? Or some environmental non-profit that reviewed it and signed off? It's still based on trust, but you're able to choose from more people to trust. Transparency also promotes trust - like I said, going out of their way to not be transparent about it hints that there IS something to hide but they don't want a lot of eyes on it.