A Corporate War Against a Scientist, and How He Fought Back

[ElNono]

"Environmental and health concerns about atrazine — one of the most commonly used herbicides in the U.S. — have been voiced for years (http://www.science.slashdot.org/story/10/03/03/2315206/Common-Herbicide-Causes-a-Sex-Change-In-Frogs), leading to an EU ban and multiple investigations by the EPA. Tyrone Hayes, a Berkeley professor who has spearheaded research on the topic, began to display signs of apparent paranoia over a decade ago. He noticed strangers following him to conferences around the world, taking notes and asking questions aimed to make him look foolish. He worried that someone was reading his email, and attacks against his reputation seemed to be everywhere; search engines even displayed ad hits like 'Tyrone Hayes Not Credible' when his name was searched for. But he wasn't paranoid: documents released after a lawsuit from Midwestern towns against Syngenta, the manufacturer of atrazine, showed a coordinated smear campaign. Syngenta's public relations team had a list of ways to defend its product, topped by 'discredit Hayes.' Its internal list of methods: 'have his work audited by 3rd party,' 'ask journals to retract,' 'set trap to entice him to sue,' 'investigate funding,' 'investigate wife,' etc. A recent New Yorker article chronicles this war against Hayes (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/02/10/140210fa_fact_aviv?currentPage=all), but also his decision to go on the offensive and strike back. He took on the role of activist against atrazine, giving over 50 public talks (http://www.ted.com/talks/tyrone_hayes_penelope_jagessar_chaffer_the_toxic_b aby.html) on the subject each year, and even taunting Syngenta with profanity-laced emails (http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/08/26/26greenwire-enviro-groups-cheer-as-scientist-bombards-agri-18199.html?pagewanted=all), often delivered in a rapping 'gangsta' style. The story brings up important questions for science and its public persona: How do scientists fight a PR war against corporations with unlimited pockets? How far should they go?"

[FuzzyLumpkins]

We need to remove the liability limitations that human beings enjoy by hiding behind being defined as a corporation. Equal protection is what it is.

[boutons_deux]

We need to remove the liability limitations that human beings enjoy by hiding behind being defined as a corporation. Equal protection is what it is.

equal protection requires enforcement. The only enforcement is through the courts, and who, like this guy, can afford access to the courts to fight a multi-$B corporation?

the courts theoretically should be the great equalizer, everybody gets their day in court, but getting into court requires lots of money, so Corporate-Americans crush Human-Americans in court (if H-As ever get past the forced arbitration in corporate kangaroo courts and have not signed an consumer contract forgoing suing the supplier), aided by the corporate-friendly, activist/extreme right wing SCOTUS almost eliminating Human-Americans joining into class action suits.