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Syngenta tells professor to 'stop spreading lies'

Syngenta has sent a cease and desist letter to a professor to stop making “outrageous and utterly false accusations” against one of its scientists. Syngenta is upset about professor Tyrone Hayes's appearance Feb. 21 on Democracy Now!, a program syndicated to more than 1,200 public radio and online media outlets in the United States and abroad.

 

“Syngenta cannot allow malicious treatment of a colleague to go unchallenged. We want to be fully transparent about taking necessary steps to ensure our employees are treated with respect and dignity,” Syngenta said in a news release.

 

Letters were sent to the University of California–Berkeley, Democracy Now! and Hayes, demanding a retraction and public apology.

 

In the news release, Syngenta said: “A line has been crossed that we can no longer ignore. These are strongly worded letters because sensationalized and devastating harassment of real people with real reputations should not be allowed to go unchecked. Our employees have every right to be fiercely proud of the work they do. We’re helping provide the technologies that will make it possible to feed a hungry world in the 21st century. Syngenta operates according to the highest ethical and scientific standards and will continue to do so.”

 

Hayes claims atrazine causes sexual abnormalities in frogs and has speculated that it could harm humans. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and scientists have found no science to support his claims. A recent article in the New Yorker has reignited interest and criticism of Hayes's sensationalistic claims. Check out “Turning Science into a Circus”, a report by a University of Illinois professor that challenges Hayes's claims and the reporting by the New Yorker reporter.

 

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