A hard-hitting post by Hank Campbell at Science 2.0 on PR and politicized science. A factual account of how science has become politicized and environmentalist groups are able to end runs around corporations when it comes to advancing a political agenda. In his commentary, Campbell describes that oft-times environmentalists will turn to like-minded scientists to get papers published in high-profile peer reviewed journals. Once done, it becomes accepted despite later critiques that have invalidated the study’s claims. From there, the research piece takes on a life of its own by getting reported in the press thanks to green PR firms who hype the research. The Climategate scandal, attempt by Andrew Wakefield to link vaccines to autism and more recent efforts to ban neonic pesticides are prime examples of this.

In his post, Campbell singles out neonicotinoid pesticides since they are the latest product being singled out for restriction. The boo-hahaha surrounding pesticides and bee deaths centers around a heavily criticized Harvard study by a Dr. Chensheng (Alex) Lu. Lu was also criticized for a similar 2012 research piece he did on the same subject. Despite the criticism, three left-wing news media outlets (Mother Jones, Slate, and the UK Guardian) picked up on Lu’s 2014 study after being told about it and reported on its findings as fact. From there other news outlets pick up on the news the first three outlets reported. Over time when there is no opposition the report is accepted as settled. Consequently, fundraising for lobbyists is done to make the case for bans or restrictions on the product citing the study as evidence.

If environmentalists are going to be beaten at their game, manufacturers who are the subject of scrutiny and ire of the eco-Puritans (like oil, gas and pesticide companies) have to learn how to understand this modus operandi and try to counter it. Like Hank Campbell points out:

Corporations are absolutely clueless about how to win against the emotional claims of anti-science groups. Do they end up spending millions? Sure, once the damage is done, but the people proactively preparing the battlefield are the environmentalists, not companies. While I was writing this, an employee at Ogilvy, a $16 billion company, which is getting paid by Intel, a $53 billion company, to engage in social media, wrote me and asked me to write about Intel for free.

That is the kind of dopey strategy corporations have.

Environmentalists know how things really get done. You get someone to go all Rachel Carson and a modern version of Joni Mitchell or Midnight Oil will write songs about the cause and bans will just happen. Politicians are not in the science business, they are in the anecdote business. Teary stories about dead bees in the Congressional Record count for a lot more than evidence.

A European study about neonic pesticides was published in 2010 so the groundwork for this latest campaign in the US may have been laid four years ago. When it comes to public relations and media manipulation, environmentalists have it down to a science. Countering it will be how they will be defeated.