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Avery, Alex

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NO MERRI

also dad dennis

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coursey, avery

omg cute cartoon frog on calculator?

hit hayes http://agsense.org/activist-scientists/

news:

EPA REJECTS SCIENCE IN LATEST ATRAZINE REPORT

Posted: 06-02-16read more

Politics, Activist Agendas Trump Science in EPA Report that Would Effectively Ban Atrazine

Posted: 05-11-16read more

Baylor Studies Show Atrazine Has No Long-Term Effects on Aquatic Plant Life

Posted: 09-09-15

same quotes

http://agsense.org/articles/epa-rejects-science-latest-atrazine-report/

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https://agsense.org/articles/atrazine-the-strange-case-of-dr-tyrone-hayes/

Atrazine: The Strange Case of Dr. Tyrone Hayes

Frog Researcher Attacks Atrazine Maker Through Obscene E-mails

by Alex Avery, Center for Global Food Issues

Warning to reader: Some of the emails quoted below from Dr. Tyrone Hayes are obscene.

For years, the Natural Resources Defense Council and their trial lawyer allies have worked to persuade EPA to ignore 6,000 studies, as well as the agency’s recent determinations, to re-investigate atrazine, the herbicide that corn growers and other farmers have safely used for more than fifty years.

Exhibit A in their case is Dr. Tyrone Hayes, a University of California at Berkeley biologist, who links atrazine to endocrine disruption in amphibians. Hayes specifically asserts that atrazine interferes with the sexual development of frogs and is, therefore, a likely cause of abnormalities in humans.

The EPA, alarmed by these claims, designed and oversaw the execution of two multi-million dollars frog studies, one in Germany and one in Maryland. Neither test could replicate the results Hayes claimed to have found. U.S. EPA officials have also informed state legislators in Minnesota and Illinois that Dr. Hayes refuses to make his data available to them—although a willingness to share data is the sine qua non of any reputable scientist. A careful analysis of Dr. Hayes’s recent publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found numerous weaknesses in his methodology and misrepresentations in his cites of other studies.

Now we have evidence that Dr. Hayes is not only biased but seriously unbalanced in his attitude toward atrazine and its manufacturer, Syngenta.

In an ethics complaint posted to the president, regents and chancellor of UC Berkeley, Syngenta claims that for years Hayes has subjected its employees to emails that are “aggressive, unprofessional and insulting, but also salacious and lewd.” These emails, writes Syngenta litigation counsel Alan Nadel, are “taunting, harassing and sexually explicit in nature.”

One such email, sent from Hayes’s email address on Feb. 13, 2009, says:

aww shucks … I’m bouta’ handle my biz right now

see you bucked…wondering…”what it is right now?”

ya outa’ luck…bouta show you how it is right now

see you’re ****ed (i didn’t pull out) and ya fulla my j*z right now!

In another from 2008, Hayes writes (apparently in response to a public statement from a Syngenta spokesman):

tell your little lap dog to wear knee pads next time and wipe the *** from

his mouth before he steps up to the mic.

Sexually explicit imagery and obscene words sprinkle Dr. Hayes’s communications to Syngenta, which he sends out under his name from his UC email address. His communications are also grandiose, if not paranoiac.

you talkin’ ‘bout my wealth

say you worried ‘bout yo health

cuz your bp goes up with your loathing

maybe you should settle down

…stop following me around

and bow down to the wolf in black clothing

The wolf, of course, is Dr. Hayes (he frequently wears all black). In one email he writes:

i am more than just a scientist, a rock star, a preacher…

i am an icon.

In another, Hayes speculates who will play himself in a Hollywood movie.

In a March, 2008, email, Hayes goes on at length about a dream he had in which he describes Syngenta executives as “defiled souls” stranded on a small island, in frozen air that causes their tears to turn painfully into icicles. They are subsequently judged and punished by seven thunderbolts, seven infernos, seven tsunamis and seven serpents . . .

with your nakedness facing the tundra wished for only one thing…

that you never met the ONE…

nobody from no where…

that your paths would have never crossed…

a man named…tyrone

everywhere i go

i cause a raucus

act like you know

that’s how i do it m*th*f*ck*s

In other emails, Hayes brags about his personal wealth, the value of his house, his $150K remodeled kitchen, and his prestigious education. In what appears to be his only communication that contains self-awareness, he writes:

But consider that crazy people think that they are normal and that everyone else is crazy. Again, I figure to maintain my sanity, it is best to acknowledge my insanity . . .

Then this moment of self-awareness soon melts away, devolving back to Hayes’s private demons:

but what kind of insane man is sane enough to recognize his own insanity?

This missive ends up:

would you rather get your *ss whopped (and you ARE getting your *ss whopped) by a fool or a genius?

Perplexed and alarmed, Syngenta tried more than once to resolve this matter privately. In 2009, University Counsel Michael Smith forwarded Syngenta’s appeal for an end to the harassing emails to Nancy Chu, Assistant Vice Provost. Chu and Dean Mark Schlissel met with Hayes about the Syngenta emails.

In a letter dated April 1, 2009, Chu wrote: “Professor Hayes has acknowledged that some of the language in the email communications was unprofessional. He has agreed that he will cease using any language that could be considered offensive or unprofessional in future email communications. Should there be any further complaints of this nature,” Chu wrote, “please do not hesitate to contact me.” (To see Syngenta’s ethics filing with UC Berkeley, go to: http://www.atrazine.com/Amphibians/Univ_of_CA-7-19-10.pdf.)

The admonition was ineffective. Dr. Hayes’s email campaign continued well into this year. What, if anything, UC Berkley will do is an open question. That Hayes has given female executives at Syngenta real reason for offense and alarm is beyond dispute. (To see a fuller compendium of Dr. Hayes’s emails, go to http://www.atrazine.com/Amphibians/Combined_Large_pdf-r-opt.pdf.)

The larger question is, given the fact that Hayes refuses to share his data (as EPA most recently confirmed in a May, 17, 2010 letter from Donald Brady, Director of EPA Environmental Fate and Effects Division, Office of Pesticide Programs) why does anyone still regard Hayes as a credible source about anything having to do with atrazine?

Why does the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences continue to publish Hayes’s articles?

And when will the press quit trumpeting Hayes’s studies?

In short, what does it take for a scientist to be discredited?

# #

Related articles:

Our view: the 2016 and 2018 Atrazine Risk Ass...

read more

Growers and Grower Groups Comment to EPA's Hu...

read more

EPA Grants Triazine Network Request to Extend...

read more

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prolly not

Avery has served on the United Nations Secretary General's scientific advisory board, which provides advice on science, technology and innovation for sustainable development. She also had been associated with the National Research Council Global Change Research Program Advisory Committee, and advisory committees with NASA, NOAA, and the National Science Foundation.

Over the last two years, Exxon has opposed shareholder resolutions calling for a board member with a scientific and climate change background.  The company had urged shareholders to reject the proposals under the leadership of Tillerson, who is poised to be confirmed as secretary of state as soon as next week.

The company argued that its directors should have a "breadth of experience" and not be limited in their scope of expertise.

Although the resolutions received support of just 21 percent of investors in 2105 and 2016, a number of large shareholder organizations have thrown their weight behind them, including CalPERS, which manages California's public employees retirement fund, and State Street Global Advisors, a worldwide investment management company. A similar resolution is up for consideration at the company's annual meeting later this year.

Rev. Mike Crosby and the Province of St. Joseph of the Capuchin Order of friars had championed the resolutions. Crosby said Avery's selection is a sign the company may be more willing to begin accepting the mainstream understanding that climate change is not only happening but will impact the world's consumption of fossil fuels.

"It looks like they (Exxon) are changing their position," he said.  "This is a step in what we see as a gradual evolution by Exxon."

Crosby said the company initially refused to even talk when the friars first raised the issue several years ago.

"We weren't getting anywhere with them," he said. "But they have been evolving. The last time we brought it up with them, they seemed more willing to talk."

The election of Avery doesn't necessarily signal a wholesale embrace of climate change science, said Tim Smith, senior vice president of Boston-based Walden Asset Management, which promotes corporate responsibility on behalf of shareholders.

"This is terribly important symbolically; terribly significant for company governance," he said.  "We don't know that this is a big shift."

It increases the company's competence in addressing the climate issue, he said.

"This should enrich the climate discussion by the company and hopefully make the company more accountable for the impact of climate."

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}::{http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Alex_Avery:(style="color:#000000"):}::{

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Alex Avery is the Director of Research and Education at the :{Center for Global Food Issues:(style="color:#000000"):}: (CGFI), a project of the :{Hudson Institute:(style="color:#000000"):}:. The Hudson Institute receives funding from big agribusiness interests, including:{Monsanto:(style="color:#000000"):}:, :{DowElanco:(style="color:#000000"):}:, the :{Ag-Chem Equipment Company:(style="color:#000000"):}: and :{Syngenta:(style="color:#000000"):}: which are involved in agriculture biotechnology.[1][2]

According to a biographical profile on the CGFI website, prior "to joining Hudson in 1994, he was a McKnight research fellow at Purdue University, where he worked to develop drought-resistant sorghum varieties for the Sudan of Africa."[3]

"Since joining the Center in 1994, Avery has spoken to a wide variety of national and international audiences and has represented the Center at the United Nations World Food Summit in Rome," his bio note states.[3]According to his bio note, Alex Avery's articles have "appeared in many publications, including the Des Moines Register, USA Today Magazine, :{The Washington Times:(style="color:#000000"):}:, and Canada's Western Producer.[3]

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Baby blues

Avery's biographical note states that he authored a "peer-reviewed study documenting that nitrates in drinking water do not cause the infamous 'blue baby syndrome' in infants". [3]

However, his initial study - "Infantile Methemoglobinemia: Reexamining the Role of Drinking Water Nitrates" which was published in the July 1999 edition of the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences journal Environmental Health Perspectives - was more equivocal than his biographical note makes out.

"Recent research and a review of historical cases offer a more complex picture of the causes of infantile methemoglobinemia. Gastrointestinal infection and inflammation and the ensuing overproduction of nitric oxide may be the cause of many cases of infantile methemoglobinemia previously attributed to drinking water nitrates," the abstract stated.

"If so, current limits on allowable levels of nitrates in drinking water, which are based solely on the health threat of infantile methemoglobinemia, may be unnecessarily strict," he wrote.[4]

Alex concluded change was needed. "A complete review of the drinking water nitrate standard should be conducted. The National Research Council conducted a review of the nitrate standard in the early 1990s with the purpose of determining if the current standard was adequate to protect human health; it did not address whether the standard was overly protective," he wrote.[4]

Avery took issue with an editorial in The Des Moines Register calling for more responsible farming to prevent the pollution of water sources with nitrogen. "While the goal of limiting nitrogen losses from farmland is sound, the editorial missed the boat on the health risks from nitrates," Avery wrote. Avery argued that the EPA mandated limit of 10 parts per million in water supply could safely be doubled. "Raising the federal standard to just 20 ppm would not raise the health risk to small infants or the general public, but it would eliminate the need to treat Des Moines' drinking water, saving millions of dollars," he wrote. [5]

Dennis too, took the issue up in an article for the Hudson Institute. Avery senior objected to 1977 proposals by the Environmental Working Group, a Washington-based environmental organization, that the drinking water nitrate limit should be halved to 5 parts per million. Where Alex's paper had suggested that causes other than nitrates "may" be the cause of the baby blue syndrome, Avery senior found no need to repeat the qualification. "Now, a study in the July issue of Environmental Health Perspectives, a publication of the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, says that nitrate doesn't cause blue baby syndrome after all," wrote Dennis, who later in the article disclosed his son had authored the report. A limit of 20 parts per million, he wrote, "would take the regulatory pressure off good farmers with no additional risk to infants".[6]

In late 2003, Alex was back on the case. In an article published on the :{Heartland Institute:(style="color:#000000"):}:'s website, Alex stated that "nitrate levels in drinking water are regulated for one reason only: to prevent blue baby syndrome, medically known as infantile methemoglobinemia," he wrote. "That regulation is costing U.S. communities and homeowners hundreds of millions of dollars per year, and the cost is increasing," he wrote, demanding that Congress should demand the National Research Council institute a scientific review of the nitrate level.[7]

Associate director at the Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination, University of Iowa, Peter Weyer, expressed his concern when Avery's paper was first published. "The potential long-term health impacts and related costs to society could be staggering. Rather than relaxing the MCL, we should be working towards preventing contamination of water supplies by nitrate (whatever the source) as a prudent effort towards reducing potential risk to the public's health," he wrote.[8]

The National Center for Appropriate Technology argued that Avery's argument had major flaws. "While the nitrate in contaminated water does not appear to cause methemoglobinemia, it can certainly affect the severity of an attack, by increasing the amount and concentration of nitrates and nitrites the body must contend with. Excess nitrates have been associated with other health problems for both humans and livestock, including questions regarding its carcinogenic and teratogenic effects", he wrote.[9]

Books

Articles and resources

Related SourceWatch articles

References

  1. :{↑:(style="color:#000000"):}: Marian Burros :{EATING WELL; Is Organic Food Provably Better?:(style="color:#000000"):}:, New York Times, July 16, 2003
  2. :{↑:(style="color:#000000"):}: Hudson Institute :{Hudson Institute 2002 Annual Report:(style="color:#000000"):}:, (pdf) Annual report, accessed January 19, 2012
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 :{"Alex A. Avery":(style="color:#000000"):}:, Center for Global Food Issues website, accessed August 2009.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Alexander Austin Avery, :{"Infantile Methemoglobinemia: Reexamining the Role of Drinking Water Nitrates":(style="color:#000000"):}:, Environmental Health Perspectives Volume 107, Number 7, July 1999.
  5. :{↑:(style="color:#000000"):}: Alex Avery, :{"Dispel myths about the danger of nitrates":(style="color:#000000"):}:, The Des Moines Register, June 24, 1999.
  6. :{↑:(style="color:#000000"):}: Dennis T. Avery, :{"Don't Blame Farmers For Blue Baby Syndrome":(style="color:#000000"):}:, Bridge News, July 7, 1999.
  7. :{↑:(style="color:#000000"):}: Alex Avery, :{"Nitrate Alarmists Cost Consumers Plenty":(style="color:#000000"):}:, :{Environment & Climate News:(style="color:#000000"):}:, Heartland Institute, December 2003.
  8. :{↑:(style="color:#000000"):}: Peter Weyer, :{"Should we worry about nitrate in our water?":(style="color:#000000"):}:, The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, May 16, 2002.
  9. :{↑:(style="color:#000000"):}: :{"Blue Babies and Red Herrings":(style="color:#000000"):}:, National Center for Appropriate Technology, archived from September 9, 2001.

External resources

External articles

Biographical notes
Articles by Avery

General articles on Avery

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Alex Avery: Debunking Independent Science; Paid by Syngenta

Alex Avery [27] is director of research and education with the Center for Global Food Issues [28] (CGFI) at the Hudson Institute [29]. The Hudson Institute receives funding from big agribusiness interests, including Monsanto [30], Dow AgroSciences [31], and Syngenta. According to documents obtained by CMD, the Hudson Institute has received at least $68,550 [32] (PDF) from Syngenta.

Avery has been a crusader against organic food and for "debunking" science showing the harm of chemicals to humans, including efforts to discredit science on the effects of nitrate in water. When it comes to atrazine, Avery also choses to target Dr. Hayes. In a self-made video posted by CGFI, Avery says "the problem is that while Dr. Hayes, whose latest research paper is based on a whopping 80 frogs -- only 40 of which were treated with atrazine -- is up against a large body of research showing that atrazine has no impact on amphibian development." He claims that science comes from "independent researchers, who don't work for chemical companies." However, documents obtained by CMD show that at least one of the researchers cited, Dr. Werner Kloas, Professor of Endocrinology at Humboldt University in Berlin, was in fact contracted by Syngenta [33] (PDF) to conduct EPA-mandated studies on atrazine's effects on frogs.

Other documents obtained by CMD show that Avery and Milloy were included in a Syngenta list of "select media" [34] (PDF), chosen because they "demonstrated a balanced approach in covering the frog issue." Avery was included in a list of Syngenta consultants in a document unsealed by the court.

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syngenta: 

Alex Avery: Debunking Independent Science; Paid by Syngenta

Alex Avery [27] is director of research and education with the Center for Global Food Issues [28] (CGFI) at the Hudson Institute [29]. The Hudson Institute receives funding from big agribusiness interests, including Monsanto [30], Dow AgroSciences [31], and Syngenta. According to documents obtained by CMD, the Hudson Institute has received at least $68,550 [32] (PDF) from Syngenta.

Avery has been a crusader against organic food and for "debunking" science showing the harm of chemicals to humans, including efforts to discredit science on the effects of nitrate in water. When it comes to atrazine, Avery also choses to target Dr. Hayes. In a self-made video posted by CGFI, Avery says "the problem is that while Dr. Hayes, whose latest research paper is based on a whopping 80 frogs -- only 40 of which were treated with atrazine -- is up against a large body of research showing that atrazine has no impact on amphibian development." He claims that science comes from "independent researchers, who don't work for chemical companies." However, documents obtained by CMD show that at least one of the researchers cited, Dr. Werner Kloas, Professor of Endocrinology at Humboldt University in Berlin, was in fact contracted by Syngenta [33] (PDF) to conduct EPA-mandated studies on atrazine's effects on frogs.

Other documents obtained by CMD show that Avery and Milloy were included in a Syngenta list of "select media" [34] (PDF), chosen because they "demonstrated a balanced approach in covering the frog issue." Avery was included in a list of Syngenta consultants in a document unsealed by the court.

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Summary. Tyrone Hayes is a researcher at the University of California-Berkeley who claims his research shows that the herbicide atrazine harms frogs.

Faulty Science

Agenda. As an anti-atrazine activist, Hayes:

Hayes is also the subject of an filed by atrazine manufacturerSyngentaconcerning taunting and obscene e-mails sent by Hayes to Syngenta.

Quotable Quotes.

What Hayes’ victims have to say.

Other Resources.

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DAD

Dennis Avery: Guarding factory food from "dangers" of the organic food movement. This self-styled "leading critic of organic produce" is a self-righteous attack dog who serves the interests of the corporate agriculture companies who pay the bills at his "think tank," the Hudson Institute. "Organic foods," Avery claims, "have clearly become the deadliest food choice." He gained notoriety by insisting that people who eat organic food are eight times more likely to suffer E. coli food poisoning – a figure he claimed to draw from research conducted by the Centers for Disease Control. But CDC has never conducted such research. Avery frequently repeats his mantra that there is no hard scientific evidence that pesticides harm humans, flatly ignoring decades of scientific analysis. Avery’s "research" has been paid for by Monsanto, DuPont, Dow-Elanco, Sandoz, Ciba-Geigy, ConAgra, Cargill, and Procter & Gamble.:{

}::{http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/:(style="color:#000000"):}::{:{Dennis:(style="color:#000000"):}::(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}::{_Avery:(style="color:#000000"):}::{

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Dennis Avery is the director of the :{Center for Global Food Issues:(style="color:#000000"):}: at the :{Hudson Institute:(style="color:#000000"):}: :{think tank:(style="color:#000000"):}:, where he edits Global Food Quarterly. Avery crusades against organic agriculture, claiming that modern industrial agriculture and biotechnology will save the world from starvation and disaster. Avery also :{disputes the scientific consensus on global warming:(style="color:#000000"):}:, ascribing the warming to "sunspots," purportedly based on information about ice cores and deep ocean sediment deposits.[1] He now subscribes to the global cooling meme, saying on July 14 2008 "Unstoppable warming has gone and a cooling phase has begun that is likely to last 25 to 30 years"[2]. He is also the originator of a controversial organic foods claim that organic foods are more dangerous than foods sprayed with chemical pesticides.[3]

Avery is a speaker at the :{International Conference on Climate Change (2009):(style="color:#000000"):}:, a skeptics' event organized by the :{Heartland Institute:(style="color:#000000"):}: :{think tank:(style="color:#000000"):}:. [4]

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Background

Avery's training is in agricultural economics. He served as a senior agricultural analyst for the :{U.S. Department of State:(style="color:#000000"):}: for between 1980 and 1988 under the :{Reagan administration:(style="color:#000000"):}:, "where he was responsible for assessing the foreign-policy implications of food and farming developments worldwide. ... As a staff member of the President's National Advisory Commission on Food and Fiber, he wrote the Commission's landmark report, 'Food and Fiber for the Future.'"[5]

According to his biographical note, "Avery travels the world as a speaker, has testified before Congress, and has appeared on most of the nation's major television networks, including a program discussing the bacterial dangers of organic foods on :{ABC:(style="color:#000000"):}:'s 20/20." [5]

Avery is also a member of the scientific policy advisory panel for the corporate-funded :{American Council on Science and Health:(style="color:#000000"):}:.[6] Avery writes a weekly column for The BridgeNews Forum.

Books, articles and presentations by Avery

Articles and resources

Related SourceWatch articles

References

  1. :{↑:(style="color:#000000"):}: :{"Guilt and Global Warming":(style="color:#000000"):}:, Center for Global Food Issues, November 29, 2007.
  2. :{↑:(style="color:#000000"):}: ":{[1\:{":(style="color:#000000"):}::{:(style="color:#000000"/maxresdefault.jpg)"
  3. :{↑:(style="color:#000000"):}: Dennis Avery, :{"A Bad Time For Organic Believers":(style="color:#000000"):}:, Center for Global Food Issues, October 3, 2006.
  4. :{↑:(style="color:#000000"):}: ":{Speakers:(style="color:#000000"):}:," Heartland Institute website, accessed January 2009.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 :{"Dennis T. Avery":(style="color:#000000"):}:, Center for Global Food Issues, August 22, 2007.
  6. :{↑:(style="color:#000000"):}: American Council on Science and Health, :{"Scientific Advisors":(style="color:#000000"):}:, American Council on Science and Health website, accessed July 2008.

External resources

External articles

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