A prominent bee scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture said his supervisors retaliated against him for publishing research about the adverse effects neonicotinoid insecticides have on monarch butterflies.
In a whistleblower complaint filed Wednesday, Jonathan Lundgren, an entomologist and 11-year veteran of the USDA's Agriculutre Research Service in South Dakota, said his supervisors initially suspended him for 30 days and then reduced it to 14 days, reported the Washington Post.
The complaint, filed with the federal Merit Systems Protection Board, alleges that supervisors began to "impede or deter his research and resultant publications" more than a year ago. Lundgren also claims the USDA attempted to suppress his findings for political reasons and impeded his attempts to review research published by other scientists.
Lundgren's trouble began after he, without proper approval, published research detailing the non-target effects the pesticide clothianidin has on monarch butterflies in the scientific peer-reviewed journal The Science of Nature, according to the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), which filed the complaint on his behalf.
The complaint said Lundgren "showed the adverse effects of certain widely used pesticides, findings which have drawn national attention as well as the ire of the agricultural industry."
A separate study recently published in Nature linked the dramatic decline of honeybee populations over the past decade to an increased use of pesticides containing neonicotinoids, reported the Guardian.
Lundgren's suspension was also due to his violation of travel policies in connection with lectures he delivered in Philadelphia and Washington, said PEER. Lundgren chalked the violation up to an inadvertent error in paperwork.
"Having research published in prestigious journals and being invited to present before the National Academy of Sciences should be sources of official pride, not punishment. Politics inside USDA have made entomology a high risk specialty," said PEER Staff Counsel Laura Dumais. "It is USDA policy that political suppression and manipulation of science are not to be tolerated, but it is empty rhetoric. Dr. Lundgren is suffering the proverbial professional death by a thousand cuts precisely because of the implications his scientific work for agribusiness."
Jeff Ruch, executive director at PEER, said the pesticide industry has pressured the USDA to stifle scientists like Lundgren, but he offered no evidence, according to Minnesota Public News Radio.
Lundgren previously published work suggesting that soybean seeds treated with neonicotinoid pesticides do not provide greater yields to farmers, who often pay a hefty markup for the genetically modified seeds, according to the Post. He peer-reviewed a report published by the Center for Food Safety, titled "Heavy Costs," which suggested neonicotinoids are harmful to bees and provided little benefit to farmers, noted the Post.
He also published a paper on the potential hazards associated with "gene silencing" pesticides, which Lundgren said could have unintended and unpredictable consequences on other genes and organisms, and require further testing to be classified as completely safe.
"Where else in the genome is going to be silenced inadvertently, and what effect is that going to have on the function of our natural biological systems?" he said, according to Harvest Public Media.
"Our really poor knowledge of genomes with most organism, nearly all organisms, really begs the question of how we're going to predict all of these potential effects."
Lundgren is a 2011 recipient of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, according to MPR News.
