AgBioView
Andrew Apel, guest editor
August 22, 2007

Propaganda, Fraud and Libel

A long-standing dispute between scientists and activists over a scholarly paper has recently resulted in several embarrassing defeats for the activists.

The dispute began with the 2003 publication by the British Food Journal of “Agronomic and consumer considerations for Bt and conventional sweet-corn”, authored by Douglas A. Powell, Shane Morris, and two of their colleagues. In 2004, the journal honored the paper with its Award for Excellence for Most Outstanding Paper.

The paper presented the results of farm-to-fork consumer trials conducted in 2000 by the University of Guelph’s Food Safety Network. At Birkbank Farms, owned and operated by Jeff Wilson, sweet corn engineered to resist crop pests were grown side-by-side with conventional varieties, the resulting produce was offered to consumers, and the results were later quantified.

Jeff Wilson provided much of the impetus for the study. During the 1990s, his customers expressed a desire for reduced pesticides in the fresh produce he offered from his farm. This prompted him to adopt an intensive integrated pest management program. The approach failed in 1997, though, when conditions were ideal for the European Corn Borer and the crop-destroying parasites proliferated throughout his fields. Customers who had earlier said they could deal with wormy sweet corn by simply breaking the ends off of the cobs did not abide by their claims, and sales lagged. By the end of the season, Wilson had lost about $25,000 in sales. When Dr. Powell approached him in 1999 with the notion of growing a Bt version of sweet corn which had performed well in field trials in Florida, Wilson was more than interested.

One thing led to another, and eventually to the study of consumer preferences. When consumers were offered a choice between the varieties of corn, they were informed of the differences between them with a large placard which read: “Delivering High Quality Sweet Corn. In order to provide you with the quality of sweet corn that you want we have three options. 1. Genetically engineered Bt-sweet corn: contains Bt protein in leaves and stalk; and requires fewer insecticides to prevent worm damage thus minimizing environmental impact. 2. Bt-spray — same Bt protein as in genetically engineered variety but sprayed on leaves; and protein exists naturally in environment and breaks down rapidly… 3. Conventional pesticides — used by most farmers to create worm free corn; and applied according to guidelines set by governments, but harm to beneficial insects observed.”

The consumers who participated said they made their choices based on taste and quality, as well as reduced use of chemical pesticides in production. In the end, engineered varieties outsold conventional sweet corn by a margin of three to two.

This finding contradicted what activists had for years been claiming about consumer sentiment. In response, the activists used a tactic similar to that lately used by Greenpeace to claim engineered corn is bad for rats. They didn’t deny the data generated by the trials involved. Rather, they attacked the means used to reach the conclusion and offered their own interpretation.

The activists’ case was opened for them by Toronto Star reporter Stuart Laidlaw. The reporter claimed that when he visited the Birkbank farm store on several occasions during the start of the trials, the hand-written sign above the non-GM corn said, “Would You Eat Wormy Sweet Corn?” while that above the engineered corn said, “Here’s What Went into Producing Quality Sweet Corn.” An undated picture of the “wormy” sign was posted online, and was interpreted as being an unwarranted influence on consumer preferences. This led the New Scientist magazine to question the research in a May, 2006 article.

What the opponents of Powell’s work pointedly failed to mention is that after the first week of the study the signs they complained about were taken down. Only then did the formal data-gathering phase begin — using machine-printed, laminated placards. These newer placards were viewed and photographed by Michael Khoo of Greenpeace, and Greenpeace has for unknown reasons failed to make these pictures public.

Joe Cummins, an emeritus professor at the University of Western Ontario who is a popular source for activist rhetoric, carried things a step further in August of that year. In a letter published in the British Food Journal, Cummins said the signs above the corn varieties demonstrated “methodological bias.” He also complained that consumers were not offered “balancing information from critics” during the trials.

Powell’s riposte to these accusations was published alongside Cummins’ letter. His main point was quite simple: that the question, “Would you eat wormy sweet corn?” is relevant. The question is what cost Jeff Wilson $25,000 in lost sales because of corn borers and, according to Powell, “inquiring about his customers’ preferences is not just good manners, it is good business.”

These would have been the last words on the matter, except for further activist intervention.

Jonathan Matthews, of GM Watch and Lobby Watch, joined the fray in April 2006 by posting an article titled “Award for a Fraud” on the GM Watch website. The article implicated Shane Morris, a co-author of the paper, in committing outright fraud in collecting and presenting the data.

It is not entirely a coincidence that the second author of the Bt sweet corn paper was made the primary target. Though Morris is now a scientist working for the Canadian government, he is Irish by birth and heritage; and he maintains the GMOIreland blog. The blog mainly focuses on the scientific misrepresentations made by opponents of biotechnology in Ireland. Predictably, his exposures aroused their ire.

Michael O’Callaghan of GM Free Ireland joined in the attack, claiming in a letter to the editor of the Irish Times that the sweet corn study presented “fraudulent scientific results.” The Times refused to publish the letter, so it was posted on the GM Free Ireland website and widely circulated via email.

The claim of “fraud” struck Morris as a libelous attack on his personal reputation, especially since the hand-written “wormy” sweet corn signs had gone up and come down before Morris was in Canada, before he was employed at the University of Guelph, and before the data were gathered. His Irish lawyers agreed. When this was brought to the attention of the Irish activists, O’Callaghan also appeared to agree, quickly retracting the allegations and publishing a correction on the GM Free website. The correction acknowledged that GM Free Ireland had no legal basis to make their claim of fraud, that the British Food Journal had found no fraud, that the paper “remains published as a valid piece of scholarly research,” and that “the academic award for the paper remains valid.”

Matthews was not so swift, and a good deal less gracious. His initial response was to target Morris’ employment with the Canadian government and to re-cast the dispute as a conflict between Canada and Ireland. The company hosting the GM Watch website found that libelous statements violated its fair use policy, and when no amendments to the offensive language were forthcoming, saw no option other than to take the entire site down. It remained down for nearly a week. In the interim, perhaps as a precautionary measure, the Lobby Watch website voluntarily removed the page accusing Morris of fraud and it was spared a similar fate.

The GM Watch website is now back up, with the article title “Award for a Fraud” changed to “The GM Propaganda Lab Award 2006.” In addition, all suggestions of fraud have been removed, in a stand-down rarely seen at GM Watch.

The same change has been made to the GM Free Ireland website, but with a twist. The word ‘fraudulent’ still appears, along with a fresh and contentious allegation that Morris “intimidated” and “harrassed” people in Ireland. It also alleges that, through Morris, “[t]he Government of Canada is engaged in an undercover dirty tricks campaign to harrass and discredit Ireland’s policy in favour of a ban on GMO crops and livestock.” Unless these allegations are substantiated, they could establish new grounds for personal libel.

Even though the Irish activists have been forced into submission, they remain relentless on the issue of Canadian consumers and sweet corn. Apparently, these activists cannot distinguish between scientific opinion, propaganda, fraud and libel — but that problem is endemic throughout the protest industry.