A spray painting of a surveillance camera.
A spray painting of a surveillance camera. Credit: Tobias Tullius Credit: Tobias Tullius

In a recent newsletter, The Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN), informed its network of a global independent media investigation uncovering a “massive international corporate operation of undercover activities” that downplays the risks of pesticides and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and designed to discredit environmentalists in Africa, Europe and North America.

CBAN members include farmer associations, environmental and social justice organizations, and regional coalitions of grassroots groups. It brings together 15 groups to research, monitor and raise awareness about issues relating to food security and sustainability and genetic engineering in food and farming. So the revelation of undercover activities by corporate interests trying to downplay the risks of pesticides and genetically modified organisms struck home.

In late September several investigative reports were published in media outlets around the world detailing how the US government funded a US-based international public relations firm to gather and provide information on thousands of individuals in an effort to counteract global resistance to pesticides. This funding by the US government and corporate clients of the public relations firm helped to create an underground social network created to weaken global environmental efforts.

It would likely be naive in this day and age to think that the global corporate pesticide lobby would not actively engage in methods and strategies to discredit environmental and organic farming movements. But it is stunning to read that these efforts were in part funded by the United States government to profile its own citizens, to influence legislation and anti-pesticide policies in other countries, and to create misleading if not deliberate misinformation, related to the dangers of pesticide use.

These independent international media investigations outline how v-Fluence, a PR firm based in Missouri which prides itself on strategies that promote reputational and risk management, worked to create online content and “profile” scientists, lawyers, environments, and activists in any way critical of the agro-chemical industry. The public relations firm actively worked to provide “intelligence” to discourage governments from adopting policies to ban pesticides. The campaign worked to encourage, for example, the use of paraquat in Kenya, and worked to derail legislation and conferences that could provide alternatives to the use of pesticides across Europe, Africa, and North America.  In the process thousands of individuals were profiled and personal information shared with corporate clients and individuals working in government, for example the department of agriculture in the US.

It is indeed eye-opening to have the impact of this corporate misinformation campaign chronicled in such great detail by major well-respected international news outlets. In fact, the collection of data on thousands of individuals around the world includes scientists, journalists, lawyers, United Nations employees, as well as individuals such US food writers Michael Pollan and Mark Bittman, the Indian environmentalist Vandana Shiva, and the Nigerian activist Nnimmo Bassey, among others.

The collection of this data, both personal and public, breaches privacy laws in many countries, according to the report, and at the very least is unethical and suspect in many others. The data on individuals was distributed via a private social network managed by an entity called Bonus Eventus. Bonus Eventus is an offspring of the public relations firm v-Fluence, which denies reports of any wrongdoing in the methods used to provide “stakeholder intelligence” to its clients.

The website, launched in 2014, is the brainchild of former Monsanto director of corporate communications Jay Byrne, and provides a media-monitoring service for chemical company executives and chemical lobby groups. But its darker side is the collection of “dirt files” on thousands of individuals who have been critical of agro-chemical products.

A Canadian professor and researcher interviewed by The Guardian had this to say: “Collecting personal information about individuals who oppose the industry goes way beyond regular lobbying efforts,” said Dan Antonowicz, an associate professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, who researches and lectures about corporate conduct. “There is a lot to be concerned about here.”

The article in the The Guardian (US) provides detail on the impact of this covert campaign. The Guardian article also includes information on a lawsuit filed in the US against the public relations firm v-Fluence and the transnational Syngenta, alleging collusion to purposefully cover-up the links between Parkinson’s disease and the use of the pesticide Paraquat.

The hub of this investigation is Lighthouse Reports, a pioneer in collaborative journalism that works with leading media organizations to “deliver deeply rooted public interest investigations”. This particular investigation was a result of  collaboration with The Guardian US, Africa Uncensored, Le Monde, the New Lede, The New Humanitarian, The Continent, ABC News Australia, and the Wire.

This article provides links to the exposés published by newspapers around the world, highlighting activities in the different countries: https://www.lighthousereports.com/investigation/poison-pr/

You can also link to these published reports for more information.

 Co-publications from this investigation

BW Lois Ross - Version 4 (1)

Lois Ross

Lois L. Ross has spent the past 30 years working in Communications for a variety of non-profit organizations in Canada, including the North-South Institute. Born into a farm family in southern Saskatchewan,...