Ignoring by Denouncing Corporate Influence

• In Event: Corporate Influence on Science and Regulation – III

Abstract

STS literature has traditionally showed the business influence on science. So far, few studies has explored the way as capture could be a strategic resource. Drawing on the case of French pesticides regulation, this paper studies how the believe of capture and its strategic use can paradoxically contributes to ignorance manufacture. For many, the powerful lobby of agribusiness giants (Bayer, Syngenta, Dow Chemicals, etc.) works to obscure the real dangers of pesticides. The paper tackles this perspective by highlighting a worse perspective. It shows that ignorance is legal and as such, officially recognized. This public policy has the ability to organize the collective denial of “uncomfortable” knowledge that can jeopardize its functioning and legitimacy. The strategic and cognitive uses of capture by the anti-pesticide group (Environmental NGOs, independent journalists or politicians) participate to shape this collective denial. These actors share indeed the common belief that dangers of these chemicals for humans and the environment are underestimated because of the capture of regulatory science by the agribusiness industry lobby. This shared belief also serves their strategic interests: they have a direct access to media by denouncing conflicts of interest in official institutions. By reaching a large audience, they conversely reinforce their credibility and secure their funding. This focus (both cognitive and strategic) on conflict of interest makes them de facto ignorant of the epistemic limits of regulatory science. This contribution is based on interviews with officials, in charge of the pesticides’ regulation and NGO, medias and famers in France and Europe.

Author

• françois dedieu, National Institute for Agricultural research