Poison PR
US taxpayers funded a covert campaign to downplay the risks of pesticides and discredit environmentalists in Africa, Europe, and North America.
Paraquat is among the most toxic agricultural chemicals ever produced. It’s banned in the European Union, where the consequences of its use are still being felt, but in parts of the world it’s still being sold. This is made possible, in part, by an influence machine that works to suppress opposition to an $78 billion global industry.
A year-long investigation managed to penetrate a PR operation that casts those who raise the alarm, from pesticide critics to environmental scientists or sustainability campaigners, as an anti-science “protest industry,” and used US government money to do so.
The US-based PR firm, v-Fluence, built profiles on hundreds of scientists, campaigners and writers, whilst coordinating with government officials, to counter global resistance to pesticides. These profiles are published on a private social network, which grants privileged entry to 1,000 people. The network’s membership roster is a who’s-who of the agrochemical industry and its friends, featuring executives from some of the world’s largest pesticide companies alongside government officials from multiple countries.
These members can access profiles on more than 3,000 organisations and 500 people who have been critical of pesticides or Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). They come from all over the world and include scientists, UN human right experts, environmentalists, and journalists. Many of the profiles divulge personal details about the subjects, such as their home addresses and telephone numbers, and spotlight criticisms that disparage their work. Lawyers have told us this goes against data privacy laws in several countries.
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Bonus Eventus is the brainchild of Jay Byrne, a former communications executive at the agrochemical firm Monsanto (bought by Germany’s Bayer in 2016), and his reputation management firm, v-Fluence. Court records reveal that both are currently being sued in the US, alongside the pesticide manufacturer Syngenta, for allegedly suppressing information for over 20 years on the health risks associated with an herbicide, Paraquat.
Our investigation reveals that the US government funded v-Fluence as part of its program to promote GMOs in Africa and Asia. Between roughly 2013 and 2019, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) channelled over $400,000 to v-Fluence for services including “enhanced monitoring” of critics of “modern agriculture approaches” – and to build Bonus Eventus.
Lighthouse Reports–in a global collaboration with the Guardian US, Africa Uncensored, Le Monde, the New Lede, The New Humanitarian, ABC News Australia, and the Wire–delves into the underground social network bringing together the agrochemical lobby and government to weaken global environmental efforts.
METHODS
We received a tip that the US government had been involved in an attempt to sabotage a scientific conference in Nairobi, Kenya, that showcased sustainable solutions to pesticides. FOIA requests revealed extensive correspondence between US civil servants, a Kenyan NGO, pesticide executive and a company, v-Fluence, about how to subvert the event. How was everyone on this email chain connected? We dug into the rather obscure v-Fluence to learn more.
A mix of money-trails analysis and public spending record searches surfaced contracts by USAID, granted to v-Fluence, to construct a “private social network”. By looking through court records, we found a recent case accusing the firm of working with Syngenta to hide the risks of Paraquat.
Open source research, FOIA documents, and interviews with dozens of people familiar with the v-Fluence’s work, revealed the scale of profiling performed by the firm’s private social network and a membership list, which included US government employees, agrichemical executives, and regulators from around the world. Further emails, received through FOIA requests, revealed how the firm worked with the US government officials to undermine anti-pesticide movements.
STORYLINES
In Kenya, Africa Uncensored captures the impact of dangerous pesticides on farmers. Their documentary interrogates why, four years after a parliamentary inquiry into dangerous pesticides, most of them are still available for purchase, and used by agricultural workers who remain largely unaware of their risks. Outside of the US and Canada, Kenya is the country with the highest number of private social network members.
v-Fluence’s work in Kenya is further explored by the New Humanitarian, looking into how the firm’s senior counsel wrote articles in favour of pesticide use and GMOs in Kenyan media, waving the threat of food insecurity.
In the US, The Guardian, in collaboration with the New Lede, focuses on the interactions of v-Fluence with US government agencies and officials. They reveal that more than thirty current US government officials are members of Bonus Eventus, most of whom are from the US Department of Agriculture.
In France, Le Monde reveals how v-Fluence obtained a contract with another PR firm aimed at undermining the EU’s Farm to Fork policy. The work, worth up to $4.9 million, was set to begin in 2020, but public spending records suggest it was suspended when President Biden was elected.
In Australia, ABC News found a number of influential members of Bonus Eventus, including the civil servant overseeing the registration and approval of agricultural chemicals and several scientists affiliated with Australia’s top universities.
In India, The Wire looks at the over 100 Indian environmentalists and scientists who are profiled on Bonus Eventus, including the prominent activist Vandana Shiva, as well as less-known researchers who appear to have been profiled just because they signed a petition against GMOs
In a written statement, Jay Byrne described v-fluence’s role as “an information collection, sharing, analysis, and reporting provider” to “promote understanding of all the various stakeholders, positions, research… impacting food and agriculture”
He denied the allegations of the lawsuit, saying they were based on claims which were “manufactured and false”, and said that, “there is no unethical, illegal, or otherwise inappropriate outreach, lobbying or related activities by our organization of any kind.”
v-Fluence denies having held government contracts now or in the past, but said that the US government was a “funder of other organizations with whom we work.”
Syngenta denied the allegations made in the lawsuit, but did not answer questions about v-Fluence and Bonus Eventus, saying it would address the claims in court.