After Tyrone Hayes said that a chemical was harmful, its maker pursued him
Wow. If there was one article you had to read to understand how large corporations systematically and unethically try to vilify their critics to shift focus from their own dangerous behaviours, this is it!Just a few of the things Syngenta turned out to be doing:1. paying for detailed sychological profiles of critics, including weaknesses (“grew up in world (S.C.) that wouldn’t accept him,” “needs adulation,” “doesn’t sleep,” was “scarred for life,” "investigate wife")2. paying others to not just discredit Hayes' work, but to make him look "as foolish as possible"3. putting together a team of over 100 people, including 25 professors, to act as "spokespeople on Hayes"4. buying Google keywords for his name and variants to astroturf people searching for him. Searching Google for "Tyrone Hayes" brings up "Tyrone Hayes Not Credible"5. getting paid scientists to write op-eds accusing Hayes of being a "junk scientist"6. leaning on universities (Nicholas School of the Environment, at Duke) so they wouldn't hire Hayes7. trying to get Hayes to bait himself (“set trap to entice him to sue,”)8. sending sock puppets to Hayes' talks whose job was to only ask him the same embarrassing questions (“everywhere Tyrone went there was this guy asking questions that made a mockery of him. We called him the Axe Man.”)There's so much more in the article that this could become either(a) a primer for scientists and critics to understand how corporations target them, or(b) a ready reckoner for corporations on what tactics to use to smear opponents.