Network includes derogatory profiles of figures such as UN experts and food writer Michael Pollan, and is part of an effort to downplay pesticide dangers, records suggest
a treaty to strictly regulate dangerous pesticides, which they said were a “global human rights concern”, citing scientific research showing pesticides can cause cancers, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s and other health problems.Photograph: Cia Pak/UN Photo
“Instead of understanding the scientific reality, they try and shoot the messenger. It is really hard to believe,” she said. He and v-Fluence are named as co-defendants in a case against the Chinese-owned agrochemical firm Syngenta. They are accused of helping Syngenta suppress information about risks that the company’s paraquat weedkillers could cause Parkinson’s disease, and of helping “neutralize” its critics. .
v-Fluence was to set up the “private social network portal” that would, among other things, provide “tactical support” for efforts to gain acceptance for the A profile of a prominent US scientist that is laden with critical commentary includes details about a 33-year-old traffic violation and the scientist’s spending on political campaign contributions, along with a personal phone number and the scientist’s former home address.
Bittman said that it was a “terrible thing” for taxpayer dollars to be used to help a PR agency “work against sincere, legitimate and scientific efforts to do agriculture better”.“The fact that for well over a century the government has steadfastly supported industrial agriculture both directly and indirectly, at the expense of agroecology is a direct roadblock in the face of efforts to produce nutritious food that’s universally accessible while minimizing environmental impact.
In 2018 Byrne attended a meeting with the US trade representative to discuss “concrete and actionable ways to assist” the agency in its pesticide policies. Following the meeting, Byrne was invited to meet with the government’s chief agricultural trade negotiator. As part of its Kenya campaign, Byrne and v-Fluence were involved in efforts to undermine a conference that was to be held in Nairobi in June 2019, organized by the World Food Preservation Center, an organization which provides education on agricultural technology in developing countries.
The director of World Food Preservation Centre, Charles Wilson, who is a former research scientist at the USDA said he had felt “unseen forces” operating against the conference, but was surprised to learn the details. In 2020, a petition to ban hazardous pesticides was resubmitted to the Kenyan parliament. At the same time, a stream of articles authored by Bonus Eventus members started circulating about the supposed devastation that the proposed ban would wreak on Kenya’s food security.
Byrne said Njoroge was not under contract with v-Fluence at the time and that the firm had “never engaged him to produce content, publish articles, or other activities”. Donna’s husband, George Evitts, also had Parkinson’s and died in 2007 at the age of 63. He had sprayed paraquat around his farm from 1971 to shortly before his diagnosis and death, according to the lawsuit.
The website did not have a Syngenta-branded logo as its other web pages did, and it operated with a domain that was separate from Syngenta. It was only identified as affiliated with Syngenta in a small font at the very bottom of the website. It was not until this year – as litigation against the company accelerated – that Syngenta brought the website under its company web address and added its logo to the top of the page, making it clear the information was coming from Syngenta.
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