{"id":58537,"date":"2015-05-25T12:00:19","date_gmt":"2015-05-25T11:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=58537"},"modified":"2015-05-22T15:02:18","modified_gmt":"2015-05-22T14:02:18","slug":"the-silencing-of-prof-hector-valenzuela-university-of-hawaii-gmo-monsanto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2015\/05\/the-silencing-of-prof-hector-valenzuela-university-of-hawaii-gmo-monsanto\/","title":{"rendered":"The Silencing of Prof. Hector Valenzuela: University of Hawaii, GMO, Monsanto"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"University<\/a>

University of Hawai’i Prof. Hector Valenzuela conducted experiments on organic farming at the university’s Waimanalo Experiment Station on Oahu until the university shut down his research. (Photo: Will Caron)<\/p><\/div>\n

19 May 2015 – As the University of Hawai\u2018i was cozying up to GMO giant Monsanto, one of the school\u2019s professors says that he was forced to tolerate a climate of \u201cbigotry, retaliation and hostility\u201d for speaking out about the potential risks of genetic engineering. The university disputes his charges.<\/em><\/p>\n

The islands of Hawai\u2018i are like a magnet attracting insects from all over the world. Bugs catch a ride on every ship headed to the islands, and state authorities often find bug species they\u2019d never seen before. And the bugs\u00a0stay.<\/p>\n

As Hawai\u2018i has no winter frost to beat back pests, over time this accumulation of bugs started to become a problem, especially for farmers. Their response: apply a heavy dose of chemicals<\/p>\n

A Hawai\u2018i Department of Agriculture report from 1969 said Hawaiian farmers were using pesticides at a rate 10 times higher than the national average (in terms of pounds per\u00a0acre).<\/p>\n

In 1993, Dr. Hector Valenzuela, then a non-tenured professor of tropical plant and soil science at the University of Hawai\u2018i-Manoa, began a long-term research project to determine whether it\u2019s possible to grow crops in the state without synthetic pesticides. Valenzuela, who in 1990 received his Ph.D. in vegetable crops from the University of Florida, established the first long-term organic farming research project in Hawai\u2018i and the Pacific region.<\/p>\n

Valenzuela planted 50 varieties of vegetables \u2014 including tomato, daikon radish, bulb onion, cucumber, eggplant, zucchini, bush beans, pole beans, sweet potato and bell pepper \u2014 on 2.5 acres at the university\u2019s Waimanalo Experiment Station located some 15 miles from the Manoa campus in the southeast corner of Oahu. With an enrollment of about 20,000, the Manoa campus, located near downtown Honolulu, is the largest of the 19 units in the University of Hawai\u2018i system. The College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) where Valenzuela teaches is the largest unit within the Manoa campus.<\/p>\n

By 1999, he had initiated several long-term research projects at Waimanalo. The organic farming plots were his research laboratory.<\/p>\n

But it all came to an end inexplicably in 1998 when Charles Laughlin, then the dean of CTAHR, shut down the organic farming research project. Valenzuela recalls the dean\u2019s exact words: \u201cYou can no longer use those plots.\u201d Laughlin had decided that a Japanese religious group would use them instead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw the removal of my field laboratory as an infringement of my academic freedom,\u201d he says. \u201cThe college prevented me from exploring new methods of agriculture that challenged the college\u2019s central vision about the future of agriculture in Hawai\u2018i.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was just the first in a series of professional setbacks for Valenzuela, now 54. For the last decade, he has been a specialist in the university\u2019s Crop Extension Service, where his job has been to work with farmers and community leaders around Hawai\u2018i on issues like sustainability and organic farming. But throughout most of his tenure at the university, the school has been a cheerleader for pesticide-intensive crop biotechnologies, not pesticide-free organic farming.<\/p>\n

Five large agrochemical corporations are experimenting with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on farmland throughout the state, and the university\u2019s expansive crop biotechnology program assists with the research.<\/p>\n

Valenzuela got in trouble with his superiors, he says, when he provided information to farmers and citizens who were concerned about the potential \u201ccontamination of crops, seed supplies, public lands, and native ecosystems by\u00a0GMOs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Banned from Three Islands<\/strong><\/p>\n

Disseminating information when asked is a big part of Valenzeula\u2019s job as an extension specialist. But emails from his superiors show that they did not want him to spread any information that ran counter to the school\u2019s pro-GMO message while on the job. For example, starting in 2006, he was banned from conducting organic farming workshops and other events on Maui, Kaua\u2018i, and the Big Island.<\/p>\n

Valenzuela said he was the only member in his department who wanted the university to teach \u201cfarmers how to sustain crops without having to rely on chemicals, rather than genetic modification.\u201d As a result, he said, he \u201cwas not allowed to interact with farmers, members of the public, and undergraduate students who had questions about agricultural sustainability and about the science behind crop biotechnology.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, he has been stripped of several simple privileges that other professors at the university take for granted, such as the right to make long distance calls on university lines and the free use of a university van. He says these insults were compounded by a number of personal attacks in which his superiors called him derogatory names, including one that was racially tinged.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not an anti-GMO person, and I have never served as a spokesman for any anti-GMO group,\u201d he adds. \u201cI have indeed questioned the science behind the field of crop biotechnology, and have engaged in a discussion with farmers, students, and with the general public about these issues. A central issue in the debate about crop biotechnology is to ensure that our regulatory agencies are following the proper protocols, based on federal and state laws, to ensure the safety of consumers, of the environment, and the long-term viability of our agricultural industries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harold Keyser, formerly the university extension administrator on Maui, forced Valenzuela\u2019s banishment from that island. Keyser wrote an email accusing Valenzuela of \u201ccriticizing CTAHR (College of Tropical Agriculture) faculty and programs with intellectually dishonest arguments and actively supporting the poisonous activities of groups basically opposed to CTAHR, science and progress. It would be insane for me to assist him in Maui County \u2014 hiding behind a guise of free-speech on personal time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keyser, who has since retired and now writes a pro-GMO blog, did not respond to a request for an interview.<\/p>\n

Keyser went on to write that Valenzuela\u2019s criticism of GMOs \u201cis not educational, and is insulting to our organization and several of our clients. There are enough nutjobs here without helping a CTAHR-grown one.\u201d<\/p>\n

One day in 2006, Keyser stated in an email that if Valenzuela held one more community meeting on the island he could no longer use the university\u2019s research station there to conduct workshops. \u201cIf he shows up to spew his intellectual vitriol on Tuesday (or any other time if it is for the same purpose), no assistance in any form will be provided from here on activities to which he is related,\u201d Keyser said in an email that\u00a0year.<\/p>\n

Valenzuela said his banishment from Maui was revoked in\u00a02012.<\/p>\n

Monsanto Money and Influence <\/strong><\/p>\n

Valenzuela documented all his allegations against the university in memos he created contemporaneously with the events they describe, and in an archive of emails sent to his inbox. He included them when he compiled the allegations in a formal \u201closs of academic freedom\u201d complaint he filed in 2010 with Dr. Andrew G. Hashimoto, the dean at the College of Tropical Agriculture.<\/p>\n

After conducting an inquiry, Hashimoto rejected the allegations. \u201cI do not believe that Dr. Valenzuela\u2019s academic freedom was compromised in any way,\u201d Hashimoto wrote. \u201cHis positions have been challenged because many in the college feel that his positions are not supported by reliable peer-reviewed research results, but his right to express his position has not been inhibited.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis claims of retaliation are also unfounded as the actions he cited were the result of non-performance. He spends most of his time making presentations about the problems with biotechnology, which he has the academic freedom to do, but not at the expense of doing his assigned responsibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hashimoto added, \u201cAgricultural biotechnology is a controversial issue, with strong proponents for and against it, in society and within CTAHR. I have encouraged civil dialogue on this and other issues within the college. Because this is a controversial issue, the exchange has been heated at times, but I believe they fall within the bounds of academic discourse.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is odd that Hashimoto dismissed the personal attacks against Valenzuela as \u201cwithin the bounds of academic discourse.\u201d In public, or in private emails, Valenzuela says that his superiors called him a \u201cjihadist,\u201d a \u201cliar,\u201d \u201cworthless,\u201d and, as in the email from Keyser, a \u201cnutjob.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moreover, after a close look at documents in the dossier, it is clear that Hashimoto\u2019s central claim that the harassment and intimidation were \u201cthe result of non-performance\u201d does not hold up. Hashimoto did not respond to a request for an interview.<\/p>\n

The university awarded tenure to Valenzuela in 1995, a promotion to full professor in 2000, and high marks in periodic post-tenure reviews. In the most recent review in 2010, he received stinging rebukes from Hashimoto and his department chair, Dr. Bob Paull, but the university \u201cdid not find any deficiencies\u201d in Valenzuela\u2019s performance, according to a letter signed by University Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw.<\/p>\n

Valenzuela has published more than 500 scholarly works on sustainable farming and bioengineering during his 24 years at the university, with titles like, \u201cEcologically-based practices for Vegetable Production in the Tropics.\u201d Publishing scholarly works, however, is not his primary responsibility, which he says is \u201coutreach\u201d and \u201cinformal\u201d educational activities.<\/p>\n

Curiously, his case file includes a handwritten note from Hashimoto sent in 2005: \u201cI had a chance to review your post-tenure review material a while back, and just wanted to drop you a note to thank you for all you do in support of the college.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Hashimoto had dramatically changed his tune by the second post-tenure review, which occurred around the time the university was strengthening its ties with Monsanto, the agrochemical giant which has large GMO research and development operations on Maui, Oahu, and Molokai. In 2009, the College of Tropical Agriculture appointed Frederick Perlak, the head of operations for Monsanto in Hawai\u2018i, to its board of advisors. In a news release, CTAHR said the purpose of the board, formed in 2004, was to establish priorities for \u201cthe development of new food and non-food products from farmers in Hawai\u2018i.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soon after, corporate money from Monsanto began to\u00a0flow.<\/p>\n

In June 2010, one month after Hashimoto denied Valenzuela\u2019s academic freedom complaint, CTAHR received a $100,000 donation from Monsanto for scholarships. Then in November 2010, Monsanto donated $20,000 to fund Gene-ius Day, a program at the college that introduces students from grades 4 through 12 to \u201cbasic genetics and the function of DNA.\u201d And in September 2011, Monsanto gave an additional $500,000 to the college, bringing its total donations to CTAHR to $620,000 within a period of a little more than a\u00a0year.<\/p>\n

\"2015_0520hector2<\/a>

University of Hawai’i officials pose with an oversize $500,000 check from Monsanto in 2010. Frederick Perlak, center, is head of Monsanto operations in Hawai’i and a member of the College of Tropical Agriculture’s board of advisors. That\u2019s his signature at the bottom of the check. To his left is Virginia Hinshaw, chancellor of the university.<\/p><\/div>\n

English Professor Cynthia Franklin, one the few faculty members at the university to publicly support Valenzuela, said taking money from corporations like Monsanto can influence \u201cin troubling ways\u201d the intellectual inquiry that should be at the heart of education and research.<\/p>\n

\u201cMonsanto is not just any corporation,\u201d she says, given its well-documented history of lawsuits against farmers and its toxic contamination of scores of industrial sites across the United States. As far back as 2008, in an investigation of Monsanto published in Vanity Fair<\/em>, Donald L. Bartlett and James B. Steele reported that, \u201cFarmers call them the \u2018seed police\u2019 and use words such as \u2018Gestapo\u2019 and \u2018Mafia\u2019 to describe their tactics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valenzuela \u201cShocked, Insulted and Humiliated\u201d by Attacks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Valenzuela said many of the personal attacks against him came from university administrators \u201cunder the approving eye of the dean, as they continued to persist over the\u00a0years.\u201d<\/p>\n

For example, he claims that in 2003, Paull, then chair of the Department of Tropical Plants and Soil Sciences (which is part of the College of Tropical Agriculture), called Valenzuela\u2019s nation of origin \u201cworthless.\u201d Valenzuela was born in Guatemala.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt shocked, insulted, and humiliated,\u201d he says. \u201cThis was in front of the farm crew when we were working in the field, perhaps harvesting or collecting data. I sent an email to the dean (Hashimoto) but I never heard\u00a0back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valenzuela added that Paull also sometimes said people who question the safety of GMO products are \u201cjihadists.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview by email, Paull would not confirm or deny he made any ad hominem<\/em> attacks. Instead, he said the accusation \u201cis not worthy of a response.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Valenzuela has been told many times that he, as a citizen, is free to speak out on anything,\u201d Paull said. \u201cI know of no examples where Dr. Valenzuela\u2019s activities have been impeded. He seems to be of the opinion that academic freedom means that he cannot be criticized or questioned.\u201d<\/p>\n

But in a March 5, 2005, memo to Valenzuela, Paull clarified that it is improper for him to discuss his concerns about GMOs on university time. \u201cThere is no conflict if these activities are carried out as a private citizen and it is on your own time,\u201d Paull stated.<\/p>\n

Valenzuela said Paull has been \u201cunable to provide a rationale\u201d as to why he cannot address concerns about the potential risks of crop biotechnology during work hours. \u201cI have consistently stated that not catering to the needs of particular segments of the population would be discriminatory, and in violation of nondiscriminatory policies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valenzuela\u2019s relationship with many fellow faculty members began to sour in 2004 when he announced he was showing \u201cThe Future of Food,\u201d a documentary critical of genetic engineering, to students. An increasingly hostile exchange of about 30 emails protesting the showing were posted to a university listserv.<\/p>\n

In 2006, it soured further after he announced his intention to attend the showing on Maui of another documentary critical of biotechnology, \u201cPandora\u2019s Box.\u201d This time he encountered an even greater level of harassment, including \u2014 but not limited to \u2014 the travel ban to the island.<\/p>\n

In 2007, Valenzuela was barred from attending a weekend retreat on Hawai\u2018i\u2019s Big Island. At the retreat, held on an organic farm, he was to discuss issues of sustainability and biotechnology with organic farmers and community leaders. And in 2009, he was told he could no longer give lectures on sustainable agriculture and biotechnology to undergraduate students at Kaua\u2018i Community College in\u00a0Lihue.<\/p>\n

\u201cSilicon Valley of the Plant\u00a0World\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the late 1990s, officials from the governor on down could hardly control their hyperbolic enthusiasm for genetic engineering.<\/p>\n

In 1998, the same year Valenzuela lost his organic research project, the university started to market seeds for a genetically modified type of papaya that it had co-developed with Cornell University. This new \u201cRainbow\u201d papaya was resistant to a ringspot virus that had threatened to put papaya farmers throughout Hawai\u2018i out of business. Researchers had stitched together genetic material from multiple sources, creating new sequences in papaya DNA \u2014 the genetic instructions in living organisms \u2014 that otherwise did not exist in nature.<\/p>\n

That year, Hawai\u2018i Governor Ben Cayetano told a Honolulu newspaper that the state was becoming the \u201cSilicon Valley of the plant and ocean world.\u201d In 1999, Michael Harrington, then interim dean of the College of Tropical Agriculture, revealed a key benefit of the budding biotechnology program: \u201cMillions and millions of dollars are to be made\u201d from genetic engineering. (Today the biotech industry says it employs about 2,000 people in Hawai\u2018i, and, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, has an annual economic impact of $159 million.)<\/p>\n

But the university\u2019s earnest effort to replicate its early success with papaya fizzled. Over the ensuing \u00a0years, its 14 attempts at producing or releasing another genetically modified fruit or vegetable failed, including anthurium, banana, dendrobrium orchid, cabbage, lettuce, coffee, pineapple, stevia, sugar cane, taro, tomato, Mexican lime, citrus, and watercress.<\/p>\n

The university has also unsuccessfully tried to genetically modify tilapia and shrimp \u2014 work that attracted the attention and support of Monsanto.<\/p>\n

New Pesticides, Old Concerns<\/strong><\/p>\n

Recent studies show that the concerns about GMOs that Valenzuela began voicing two decades ago are not unreasonable. Valenzuela never said he had any definitive proof that GMOs are unsafe. But he says new data has emerged suggesting that pesticides used in the research and development of GMO seeds or in their cultivation on the farm pose potential risks that may be significant. More research is needed before anyone can say for sure, he says, but they raise important questions that need to be resolved.<\/p>\n

For example, he said, the five agrochemical companies \u2014 Monsanto, Syngenta, Dow, DuPont and BASF \u2013 that are conducting open-air GMO experiments in Hawai\u2018i are applying generous amounts of pesticides to their fields. Four of these companies \u2013 all except Monsanto \u2014 voluntarily publicize data revealing how many pounds they are using of the most toxic pesticides.<\/p>\n

These data show, for example, that they are applying chlorpyrifos at a rate that\u2019s five times the national average. Chlorpyrifos, the most widely used bug killer in the world, is a neurotoxin found to damage the brains of developing children.<\/p>\n

Moreover, they are applying the weed killer atrazine at a rate that\u2019s 14 times the national average. Dr. Tyrone Hayes, an epidemiologist at the University of California-Berkeley, has discovered that atrazine, the second most widely used herbicide in the U.S., impedes the sexual development of frogs, while other scientists have found that atrazine is associated with birth defects in humans, according to a profile of Hayes in the New Yorker<\/em>.<\/p>\n

These and other kinds of toxic chemicals are being applied to GMO test fields located near schools on the island of Kaua\u2018i. Some of the world\u2019s most biologically diverse ecosystems are also situated close\u00a0by.<\/p>\n

The state does not require the agrochemical companies to divulge how much they use of the world\u2019s most heavily used herbicide, glyphosate, because the state deems glyphosate to be not toxic enough to be of concern. But glyphosate, commonly sold by Monsanto under the product name Roundup,<\/em> may not be so benign after\u00a0all.<\/p>\n

In March 2015, the World Health Organization\u2019s (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as a \u201cprobable carcinogen\u201d based on its review of several studies. The industry has asked the agency to retract that finding. A Monsanto employee who declined to identify himself told a small group at a recent Ag Fair on Maui that the WHO study consisted of nothing more than a roomful of experts who spent just five days reviewing several decades\u2019 worth of research.<\/p>\n

After countless glyphosate applications over many years and many millions of acres worldwide, \u201csuperweeds\u201d evolved that are resistant to glyphosate. Today, 22 types of weeds worldwide are glyphosate-resistant, according to a Purdue University study.<\/p>\n

A paper posted to the University of Hawai\u2018i\u2019s web site by Professor Ania Wieczorek, \u201cUse of Biotechnology in Agriculture\u2014Benefits and Risks,\u201d suggests that the proliferation of pesticide-resistant weeds is a problem that can be solved simply by spraying more chemicals. \u201cResistance to a specific herbicide does not mean that the plant is resistant to other herbicides, so affected weeds could still be controlled with other products,\u201d she writes.<\/p>\n

Wieczorek, who is director of CTAHR\u2019s educational programs for middle\u2013 and high-school children, did not respond to a request for an interview.<\/p>\n

New mixtures of pesticides can rekindle old concerns. A new Dow Chemical herbicide, Enlist Duo<\/em>, blends 2,4-D and glyphosate to kill weeds in genetically engineered corn and soybeans fields. The herbicide 2,4-D has been around for decades and was an active ingredient in the Vietnam War-era Agent Orange that is linked to reproductive problems and cancer. Monsanto\u2019s new Roundup Xtend Herbicide<\/em> combines glyphosate and dicamba, the latter also an old herbicide known to volatilize and drift onto nearby fields, where it can cause damage to someone else\u2019s crops.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause many farmers can no longer rely on glyphosate alone, overall herbicide use in the United States\u2014which Roundup<\/em> was supposed to help reduce\u2014has instead gone up,\u201d according to a 2013 policy brief by the Union of Concerned Scientists.<\/p>\n

But Monsanto\u2014referencing a 2014 German meta-analysis\u2014says that GMO technology has increased crop yields by 22 percent, reduced pesticide use by 37 percent, and increased farmer profits by 68 percent.<\/p>\n

\"Ania<\/a>

Ania WieczorekAnia Wieczorek, associate specialist in Biotechnology, Biotechnology Outreach Program at CTAHR accepts a $20,000 grant from Monsanto in this photo. Here she is shown with two of Monsanto’s community affairs managers in Hawai’i: Alan Takemoto, left, and Paul Koehler, right<\/p><\/div>\n

In her paper, Wieczorek claims that many people, when confronted with statements about the effects of genetic engineering on the environment and the food supply, become confused or afraid. She doesn\u2019t say whether it\u2019s reasonable for people to be concerned about the heavy application of toxic pesticides in open-air GMO field tests near schools and sensitive ecosystems on Kaua\u2018i. \u201cThis fear can be aroused by only a minimal amount of information or, in some cases, misinformation,\u201d she writes.<\/p>\n

The College of Tropical Agriculture\u2019s web site provides examples of some of the information \u2013 or misinformation \u2013 the school disseminates to younger students. One is a little ditty entitled \u201cDNA Rap,\u201d which it says is a \u201cfun\u201d presentation that \u201cintroduces the importance of DNA research in the field of agriculture.\u201d It ignores some of the less fun qualities of GMO production, including the emergence of superweeds and the heavy application of dangerous chemicals near schools. It also suggests that scientists can improve crop yields by genetically modifying crops to resist winds, floods, and drought, which they have not been able to do as yet. It goes like\u00a0this:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s DNA that is the\u00a0key<\/em>
\nTo finding better crops<\/em>
\nThat will make farming easier for\u00a0me!<\/em>
\nWhat we\u2019re gonna\u00a0need<\/em>
\nIs the corn bugs don\u2019t\u00a0like!<\/em>
\nAnother trait that a crop\u00a0needs<\/em>
\nIs to keep growing strong<\/em>
\nWhile the farmers fight the\u00a0weeds.<\/em>
\nThere\u2019s one more thing that we could\u00a0use<\/em>
\nHow about some plants that won\u2019t take\u00a0abuse<\/em>
\nFrom wind or floods<\/em>
\nOr dry drought weather<\/em>
\nHey I think it\u2019s time for us farmers and scientists<\/em>
\nTo all work together!<\/em><\/p>\n

Silencing Valenzuela\u2019s Allies<\/strong><\/p>\n

Valenzuela is not the only professor at the University of Hawai\u2018i who has been harassed for voicing concerns about biotechnology. After Cynthia Franklin, the English professor, made negative comments to Ka Leo,<\/em> the student newspaper, about the donations to the school from Monsanto, she found her email inbox stuffed with what she describes as \u201cuncollegial emails from university faculty accusing me of being ignorant and full of anti-corporate bias.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter all, their arguments went, I was an English professor \u2014 what did I know about GMOs?\u201d she says. \u201cThey implied I should stick to Shakespeare and leave the science to\u00a0CTAHR.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to this criticism, Franklin says, \u201cI do not teach Shakespeare. I do specialize in cultural studies, which involves interdisciplinary inquiry into how economic interests are ideologically sustained. As a cultural studies scholar, I approach the question of GMOs as one not limited to science and scientists. GMOs are big businesses with significant impact on labor practices, local and global economies, food culture and consumption. Moreover, the corporatization of the university\u2014a phenomenon directly related to Monsanto money going to CTAHR\u2013is a topic that falls very much within the purview of cultural critics and is one central to my own research.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few other faculty members at the University of Hawai\u2018i have privately revealed in emails to Valenzuela their concerns about biotechnology and the way he has been treated. But none of the other faculty members were willing to divulge their names, for fear of retaliation.<\/p>\n

One professor wrote in 2008 that it was difficult for him to step forward. \u201cI suspect there will be consequences for\u00a0me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI personally support your rights to balanced viewpoints,\u201d said another email from a professor in 2004. \u201cThe attack emails\u2026 this is so disrespectful. Please know that there are some of us who like and respect you even though we [are] a bit too cowardly to publicly say\u00a0so.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry we are not a more open academic culture,\u201d another professor wrote in 2004. \u201cUniversities are supposed to be the place where we discuss and debate issues. Thank you for having the courage to do what you\u00a0do.\u201d<\/p>\n

In some ways, this pattern of harassment is similar to what Tyrone Hayes, the aforementioned professor at the University of California-Berkeley, faced in recent years while conducting research into the harmful health and environmental effects of atrazine.<\/p>\n

For more than a decade, Syngenta, atrazine\u2019s manufacturer, hounded Hayes. For example, Syngenta created a list of things it could do to Hayes, including: \u201cset trap to entice him to sue,\u201d \u201cinvestigate funding,\u201d and \u201cinvestigate wife,\u201d the New Yorker<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n

In the case of Tyrone Hayes, it was the corporation, not the university that persecuted the professor. In Valenzuela\u2019s case, it was his colleagues arguably working to advance a corporate agenda who targeted the professor. But if the intent of the harassment was to silence their voices, it hasn\u2019t worked. They both continue to speak\u00a0out.<\/p>\n

___________________________________<\/p>\n

Eliza Murphy is an independent writer based in Eugene, Oregon.<\/em><\/p>\n

Paul Koberstein is editor of <\/em>Cascadia Times. In 2004 he won the John B. Oakes Award for distinguished environmental journalism for articles on the <\/em>Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013<\/a> times.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Valenzuela, who in 1990 received his Ph.D. in vegetable crops from the University of Florida, established the first long-term organic farming research project in Hawai\u2018i and the Pacific region to determine whether it\u2019s possible to grow crops in the state without synthetic pesticides. But it all came to an end inexplicably in 1998 when the university shut down the organic farming research project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-organic-gmo-genetic-engineering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58537\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}