Personal address, value of their housing, hobbies, political opinion, state of health of their loved ones… Personal information concerning more than 500 scientists, journalists, environmental activists or experts at the UN, judged ” reviews » of intensive agriculture, were accumulated and shared on a private American platform, intended for executives in the chemical industry. This listing, revealed by the investigative media Lighthouse Reports, which partnered with several newspapers including The Worldis of unprecedented magnitude.
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The scale, precision and international character of the file are unprecedented, writes the newspaper The World. The newspaper participated in the “Bonus Eventus files” investigation with the investigative media Lighthouse Reports, which obtained internal documents from a private platform called Bonus Eventus. This investigation reveals that around 500 scientists and activists critical of the agrochemical industry were included in a database to “ counter opposition to pesticides », Reveal several media on Friday, recalling the Monsanto files scandal.
Apart from a few famous environmental activists, such as the Indian Vandana Shiva or the Nigerian Nnimmo Bassey, most of the people listed are scientists unknown to the general public, but who have worked on the damage of pesticides on the environment and on human health. , or even on the impact of agrochemistry on bees and on male fertility.
People file « annoying for the agrochemical industry »
There are also two former UN special rapporteurs, who in 2017 proposed an international treaty to regulate and ban dangerous pesticides in agriculture, as well as two culinary critics from the New York Times.
The Bonus Eventus platform, which compiled very personal data on all these people for pesticide industry executives, is managed by v-Fluence, a reputation management company specializing in the defense of the agro-industry. According to Lighthouse Reports, v-Fluence achieved between 2013 and 2019 “ more than 400,000 dollars » from the American government « as part of its program to promote GMOs in Africa and Asia “.
If ” we do not know the extent of the uses, private or public, which can be made of this information “, ” the nature of the information collected leaves little doubt about the desire to discredit the targets or destabilize them by providing Bonus Eventus members with an arsenal of arguments or sometimes sensitive information », adds The World.
The boss of Bonus Eventus, a former member of the Monsanto firm, ensures that all this information is publicly accessible. However, this database resembles a reserve of ammunition to try to discredit or harm those whom agrochemistry considers to be its opponents.
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