v-Fluence, which created profiles on over 3,000 organizations and 500 people and made the profiles available to pesticide industry executives and others, collected more than $400,000 from USAID between 2013 and 2019. The funds were funneled through the International Food Policy Research Institute.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n A pesticide industry public relations consultant that secretly profiled hundreds of food and environmental health journalists, scientists and advocates has shut down its profiling operation in response to public outcry,\u00a0The Guardian<\/a>\u00a0reported Monday.<\/p>\n v-Fluence<\/a>\u00a0created profiles on more than 3,000 organizations and 500 people. The company coordinated with government officials to counter global resistance to pesticides and genetically modified (GM) crops, according to\u00a0Lighthouse Reports<\/a>, which conducted a year-long investigation into the firm.<\/p>\n Many profiles include personal details including the names of family members, phone numbers, home addresses and even house values.<\/p>\n v-Fluence published the profiles on a private social network called \u201cBonus Eventus<\/a>,\u201d named after a Roman god of\u00a0agriculture<\/a>. Bonus Eventus is a private stakeholder \u201cwiki\u201d accessible by about 1,000 members described as the \u201cwho\u2019s-who of the agrochemical industry<\/a>\u201d and its allies, including the world\u2019s largest pesticide companies, academics and government officials from several countries.<\/p>\n More than\u00a030 current U.S. government officials<\/a>\u00a0are on the membership list, primarily from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which regulates pesticides and organics.<\/p>\n The\u00a0profiling<\/a>\u00a0was part of a broader effort to minimize pesticide dangers, discredit critics and undermine global policymaking on pesticides and genetically modified organisms (GMOs), according to documents obtained by Lighthouse Reports.<\/p>\n v-fluence is run by Monsanto\u2019s former communications director,\u00a0Jay Byrne<\/a>, according to\u00a0GMWatch<\/a>, which also investigated the firm\u2019s activities.<\/p>\n The scheme was funded in part by the U.S. government through the\u00a0U.S. Agency for International Development<\/a>\u00a0(USAID), which channeled more than $400,000 to v-Fluence through the International Food Policy Research Institute between 2013 and 2019.<\/p>\n Among those profiled was\u00a0Robert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/a>,\u00a0Children\u2019s Health Defense<\/a>\u00a0founder and President Donald Trump\u2019s nominee for U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services.<\/p>\n Other targets included environmental investigative journalist\u00a0Cary Gillam<\/a>, author of \u201cThe Monsanto Papers<\/a>: Deadly Secrets, Corporate Corruption, and One Man\u2019s Search for Justice\u201d and co-author of The Guardian article. Indian environmentalist and longtime Monsanto critic\u00a0Vandana Shiva<\/a>, GM scientist professor\u00a0Michael Antoniou<\/a>\u00a0and food writer\u00a0Michael Pollan<\/a>\u00a0also were on the list.<\/p>\n v-Fluence and Byrne were also central to the\u00a0smear campaign<\/a>\u00a0against Ignacio Chapela and\u00a0Gilles-\u00c9ric S\u00e9ralini<\/a>, whose research raised questions about gene flow from GM crops and the safety of GM corn and Roundup, respectively.<\/p>\n Antoniou told The Guardian he worried that the v-Fluence shut-down was \u201ctoo little too late.\u201d He said:<\/p>\n \u201cThose of us who were profiled still do not know who accessed the information and how it was used.<\/p>\n \u201cDid it hinder us in our careers or close doors that otherwise may have been open to us? The fact that v-Fluence and the industries it serves resorted to these underhanded methods shows that they were unable to win on the level of the science.\u201d<\/p>\n The Guardian reported that\u00a0v-Fluence ended the profiling<\/a>\u00a0and made \u201csignificant staff cuts\u201d after Lighthouse and its media partners exposed its work. Byrne blamed the costs of \u201clitigator and activist harassment\u201d for the cutbacks.<\/p>\n In\u00a0a statement<\/a>\u00a0sent to Lighthouse before it published its investigation and posted on v-Fluence\u2019s website, the company accused Lighthouse of \u201cmanufactured falsehoods\u201d and seeking to \u201cunjustly damage\u201d v-Fluence\u2019s global reputation.<\/p>\n Several corporate backers and industry organizations have also\u00a0canceled contracts<\/a>\u00a0with the company.<\/p>\n v-Fluence clients face billions in lawsuits over their toxic products<\/strong><\/p>\n v-Fluence, founded in 2001, provides \u201creputation management<\/a>\u201d services for a limited number of major corporations. Services include \u201congoing intelligence gathering, proprietary data-mining and analytics,\u201d for clients that include Monsanto and Syngenta.<\/p>\n Monsanto, which\u00a0Bayer acquired<\/a>\u00a0in 2018, faces\u00a0thousands of lawsuits<\/a>\u00a0by people who allegedly developed cancer after being exposed to\u00a0Roundup weedkiller<\/a>, made with glyphosate.\u00a0Bayer said<\/a>\u00a0it would set aside more than $10 billion to settle roughly 100,000 of the claims, although some the settlements have become mired in difficulties. In 2021, Bayer it said it would\u00a0set aside another $4.5 billion to cover cancer claims<\/a>.<\/p>\n The company also said it would\u00a0stop selling glyphosate-based herbicides<\/a>\u00a0to U.S. consumers, although it would continue to sell them to commercial farmers.<\/p>\n Syngenta, maker of the highly poisonous\u00a0paraquat weedkiller<\/a>, faces lawsuits over alleged links between the pesticide and Parkinson\u2019s disease. The company denies the link, but legal documents show its claim rests on\u00a0\u201cweak\u201d data<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0contradicts its own research<\/a>\u00a0and knowledge.<\/p>\n v-Fluence and Byrne are listed as co-defendants in a\u00a0lawsuit Syngenta is facing<\/a>\u00a0in the U.S. They are accused of helping Syngenta suppress information about paraquat\u2019s link to Parkinson\u2019s and of helping to neutralize its critics.<\/p>\n A recent\u00a0USRTK report<\/a>\u00a0revealed details about v-Fluence and a range of other deceptive tactics Byrne and other\u00a0industry players<\/a>\u00a0have been using to defend and promote pesticides and\u00a0GMOs<\/a>.<\/p>\n Byrne personally advised<\/a>\u00a0AstraZeneca, Pfizer, the International Rice Research Institute \u2014 which promotes genetically engineered (GE) \u201cgolden rice\u201d and the U.S. government. He played a key role in\u00a0attacks on Greenpeace<\/a>, which he placed on a \u201ctargets\u201d list he was compiling for Monsanto.<\/p>\n Byrne was instrumental in creating \u201cAcademics Review\u201d an industry-funded \u201cindependent\u201d organization that produces reports that, for example, attack the organic industry.<\/p>\n Byrne and v-Fluence also produced a series of taxpayer-funded videos to promote GE foods,\u00a0according to USRTK<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2018The people who run v-Fluence should search their consciences\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Since The Guardian, The New Lede, USRTK and others published Lighthouse Report\u2019s findings, v-Fluence hired a law firm to review whether its profiling violated the European Union\u2019s\u00a0(EU) General Data Protection Regulation<\/a>\u00a0(GDPR), which protects individuals\u2019 personal data rights.<\/p>\n In a\u00a0Dec. 9, 2024, statement<\/a>\u00a0posted on its website, v-Fluence announced the law firm found that the company wasn\u2019t subject to the GDPR. The statement also said the law firm provided recommendations for handling personal data of people in the EU consistent with the GDPR in case that law were to apply.<\/p>\n In response, the organization said, \u201cv-Fluence has adopted all such recommendations, including the removal of the non-profit Bonus Eventus stakeholder wiki from our work, and we will continue to offer stakeholder research with updated guidelines to avoid future misinterpretations of our work product.\u201d<\/p>\n Numerous media organizations have condemned v-Fluence and called for further investigation. Arthur Grimonpont of\u00a0Reporters without Borders<\/a>\u00a0said:<\/p>\n \u201cThe practice of profiling and spreading rumours that could harm journalists\u2019 integrity should never be allowed to flourish in a democratic state. A thorough investigation must be conducted to bring to justice all those involved in these outrageous violations of privacy and the reputation of environmental journalists.<\/p>\n \u201cThese manipulation techniques aimed at influencing the public debate are a direct attack on the public\u2019s right to reliable and independent information.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"usaid](\"https:\/\/childrenshealthdefense.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/pr-firm-pesticide-usaid-funding-feature-800x417.jpg\")
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