Tyronne Hayes - The New Yorker Article
After reading the article, what are your thoughts????
After reading the article, what are your thoughts????
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Tyronne Hayes - The New Yorker Article
After reading the article, what are your thoughts????
53 Comments
Gianna Fazio
10/27/2014 11:39:04 am
Wow. I never truly believed that this type of exploitation actually occurred in the world, let alone right in our own country, our universities. It is absolutely terrible what Syngenta put Hayes through- all for producing results that would weaken their pesticide monopoly. It is all together frightening that such corporations can have so much control over what the general public sees and how people are treated. What I found particularly mind blowing (and saddening) is how the corporation literally bought out the google search "Tyrone Hayes" so that we only click on sources that discredit him, so that is all we can believe of him and his work that is so important for our well being. It is not fair to Tyrone Hayes or to us, because Atrazine is effecting everyone and everything, and will continue to for many years unless someone can make a change.
Julie Marro
10/28/2014 01:40:34 pm
I agree, it really is terrifying how much control companies have. They bought out a google search, thats insane. At some point I hope we realize we need to stop giving so much power to these companies, especially ones like Syngenta who are producing a chemical that is one of the most popular contaminants of drinking water.
Sarah Walsh
10/29/2014 08:51:52 am
It seems like you and I were alarmed by the same things! I was in shock to read that they bought the google search. I'm very uncomfortable with the amount of control these companies have over what we can see and what our opinions are. Any one of us very easily could've read one of their articles discrediting Tyrone and never even know the scandal behind it. It would be very easy to believe that Tyrone was unreliable if we hadn't read this article, and that scares me. It makes you wonder about how truthful the information we receive really is.
Lucas Brennan
10/29/2014 09:04:31 am
Great point about how the length at which the company went just to keep them at the top of the pesticide hierarchy. Without Tyrone working through the immense adversity, we wouldn't be reading this article and we wouldn't have a clue about the affects of atrazine.
Robert Boos
10/30/2014 10:44:50 pm
We cannot make a change Gi. There is nothing we can do to stop this power hungry monster. Our only option would be to stop using atrazine on crops, but then many people would be without food. It was estimated in the article that crop yield would drop 6% if we stopped using atrazine. People in our country are already starving do you want to make that problem worse? Atrazine also contributes 2 billion dollars to our economy, do you want to increase the unemployment rate too? The reality is that we need atrazine even if it is bad. The big corporations may seem evil for manipulating the public, but what we don't see is that they know exactly what is happening. They know it is bad for our health but they also understand how much it contributes to our economy. The good of atrazine outweighs the bad, this is what you need to realize.
Gianna Fazio
10/31/2014 12:00:59 am
Bobby your point is based on estimations. Atrazine is already proven to be hurting us and our environment. And by the way, Italy and Germany both banned atrazine in 1991, with no decrease in corn yields or harvested area. And if atrazine was banned here, ncreases of 1.5 million acres planted in soybeans and 0.1 million acres in wheat is predicted—almost exactly absorbing the reduction in corn acreage.
Robert Boos
10/31/2014 01:55:26 am
Gi, although those countries do not use atrazine they have stated that with proper use, atrazine will not produce any negative health affects to us or animals. In 2006, the EPA stated that atrazine is a safe way to treat crops, they only came to this conclusion after a 12 year study, involving 6,000 different scientific experiments. Since people like you still claim atrazine is bad the EPA put it up again for review (waste of gov't money). We need atrazine because an alternative is nowhere in sight. Developing a chemical that will produce the same results as atrazine for the same production price of atrazine is near impossible.
Mrs. Anderson
11/24/2014 11:26:25 am
You guys are ridiculous...
Corinne Caminske
10/28/2014 05:39:49 am
The producers of atrazine are honestly the most selfish people I have ever encountered. Yes they are making cancer treatments, but they're the ones that caused the cancer! Not to mention they completely destroyed a man. I was disgusted when I saw that ruining Hayes reputation was on their todo list. I can't imagine the horror Hayes must have felt once he realized the atrazine producers were basically stalking him. One of the many things that drove me crazy, was when the E.P.A decided atrazine was only a limited threat to human. Who are they to say what's a "limited threat" or not? Hayes work proves that atrazine is a huge threat to our health, but I guess it's up to us to get the world to understand! :)
Emma Philbin
10/28/2014 11:09:12 am
I completely agree with you about how maddening it is that the E.P.A. found atrazine was only a "limited threat" to us. The evidence is right in front of their face. When Europe was given these findings, they instantly banned the use of it. But the EPA's conclusion was mainly based on Syngenta's studies that Hayes proved were done in man-made environments, creating the facade of atrazine being harmless. What else do they want? Hayes gave them all the information, but they are all just too blinded by money ad selfishness.
Emma Philbin
10/28/2014 11:00:45 am
After reading this article, I was absolutely appalled by Syngenta. The way they handled the situation of Hayes studies proving that atrazine caused sexual development impediment, was disgusting. Not only did they belittle his credibility as a scientist and researcher, but they belittled him as a person. When I read that Syngenta focused on discrediting Hayes based on his "personal bio... skin color... and his hair styles" I was mortified. I could not imagine being attacked on sure a personal level in a scientific debate. I believe that Syngenta took this debate to a whole other level that it should never have reached, between the stalking, unnecessary disparaging of his personal characteristics, preventing him from getting jobs (called dean at Duke to stop from giving Hayes a job offered to him), and altered "replications" of Hayes' studies. On multiple occasions they attacked Hayes calling him a "bipolar and a manic depressive" and a "paranoid schizo and narcissistic". Every lecture Hayes would do, there was always two men that were dressed more formal than everyone else who always asked questions that Hayes wife described as "making a mockery of him, the questions were asked to humiliate him". I admire Hayes strength to continue on in his research on atrazine, he never let the stalking or harassment by Syngenta stop him. The evidence is there of atrazine being a threat to our health. It's saddening how big business manipulation and selfishness can keep this poison in our environment and even in us all for the sake of money.
Corinne Caminske
10/29/2014 03:56:27 am
The strength that Hayes has is completely incredible! I do agree that the lengths they went to are totally insane, and practically illegal. The mental abuse has suffered was torture, but yet he perceived through it all. The thing that gets me angry is Hayes was doing this for the benefit of the human race! Not because he wanted to be this famous scientist that's in all the textbooks. I'm so impressed that Hayes continued his work despite all the work done against him.
Gianna Fazio
10/30/2014 02:47:02 am
You brought up a great point, Emma, that Syngenta brought this debacle with Hayes to a whole new level when they used his appearance to try to further discredit him. Although that is absolutely appalling especially in these times, I believe it truly makes it clear who the true hero and villain is here.
Eileen Keenan
10/28/2014 11:38:10 am
Knowing what Hayes had to go through to prove his studies is ridiculous. People are selfish and the things they did to try to discredit him are absurd. He devoted his life to prove the affects of atrazine and with Syngenta trailing along his back the whole time must have been disheartening.They went to extreme measures to discredit this man and I think it is wrong. But the only way for the use of atrazine to decrease is by our actions and asking ourselves what we are going to do to help our future generations
Hannah Schrader
10/29/2014 01:43:30 am
I agree it is so upsetting how a company will go so far to discredit him just because his findings made them look bad. If more people know about the chemical the bigger difference will be made.
Nicholas Cowan
10/28/2014 12:44:33 pm
After reading this article, the fact that struck me most was the way by which Syngenta was attacking and trying to discredit Hayes: they were assuming that he should be a perfectionist by in reality is not. For example, whenever he produced a report of his findings, they would have someone, as well as a credible third party, go through it line by line and pinpoint every single inaccuracy and mistake. How can we assume that every scientist have perfect reports? The whole point of science is to continually make assumptions, try to prove those assumptions, and then fix inaccuracies. Syngenta has no right to criticize this man of every single word he utters. Also, the fact that they put him through a physcological test left me speechless. It is one thing to comment on someone's work but it is a whole different evil to comment on his mental standing, appearance, or skin color. They even said at one point that a possible way to discredit him would be to research his wife. This is sick. Finally, after reading this article, it is impossible not to respect this man for sticking through and holding on to what he believes in no matter what others say about him. I personally believe that atrezine will be banned in the United States; the only question is when?
William Fridrich
10/29/2014 09:52:24 am
It's just as his student, Nigel Noriega had said: "One of the most dangerous things you can do is believe". One should always be correcting their own mistakes, and never assume that they're observations are perfect. That said, reading every line and looking for every inaccuracy is just plain absurd, and it's strange how no one can see this in the extent to which they were discrediting Hayes. Pointing out a spelling mistake? Everyone makes mistakes. I don't see how people like this can be comfortable enough with their actions to sleep at night when they are constantly invading a person's privacy (in this case, attacking his privacy) to protect a product that has been proven on several different occasions to be harmful for animals and humans alike. It's a shame that this is so recent of information, and we likely wouldn't know about Atrazine at all otherwise.
Julie Marro
10/28/2014 01:36:40 pm
This article really shows the excessive power corporations have in our society. It is frustrating that we let them control everything, because they obtain their power from consumers. They all push their own agendas so forcefully that they would rather destroy a fellow human being than have the ugly truth about their product be exposed. It is so sad that Tyronne Hayes who had already suffered with anxiety and feeling like an outsider when he was younger had to have those insecurities thrown back in his face by Syngenta. These companies are willing to go dangerously far for a profit, and we need less of them and more of people like Hayes whose information will benefit public health instead of harm it like Syngenta.
Nicholas Cowan
10/29/2014 03:52:41 am
I love your point on power being derived from the consumer. I believe that this is one of the major reasons that Hayes continues the work he does:the more people can see his work and the flaws in the Syngenta system, the greater the possibility that these people can side with him and boycott atrezine products. As of now, Hayes is a singular voice, and a singular voice is easy to target and undermine but if a whole group of people backed him up, it becomes much harder to discredit all of them. When this happens I believe we will see a shift and atrezine will be banned.
Hannah Schrader
10/29/2014 01:38:31 am
I can't believe the extent that some companies will go to , to make sure that all the harm they do is covered. Hayes found so many amazing answers and findings but because it made a multi billion company and industry look bad , he is stalked and made to look false . It's so sad that a company would rather still make money and have a good reputation then help the environment when they know they are doing so much wrong.
Rebekah Fitzpatrick
10/29/2014 02:46:16 am
The extent to which the company Syngenta had attempted to manipulate public opinion for the sake of protecting their good name is astounding. The power that these companies obtain can be very dangerous for the public, as can be inferred from Hayes's situation concerning the detrimental state that atrazine
Rebekah Fitzpatrick
10/29/2014 02:59:44 am
*detrimental effects that atrazine can have on the environment. The thought that Syngenta would go to such an extreme extent for the sake of ruining a man's career, reputation and live, is infuriating. I do not believe it to be safe that these selfish corporations have so much power and resources available to then that allow them to control and monopolize scientific research. However, the very fact that this whole situation has been released to the public, and that we are currently learning about this in schools brings hope that change is possible.
Alyssa Ruml
10/29/2014 09:03:50 am
Exactly! It's terrific that the public is well informed about these issues that could've been so degrading to Hayes' reputation.
Anthony Pacia
10/29/2014 03:57:39 am
The treatment of Tyronne Hayes by the company is appalling but I can't say that I am surprised by it. This company, Syngenta, is making billions of dollars off this chemical so they are going to defend it anyway they can so they can continue to make this money. The only thing that matters to them is money and as long as they keep getting their money they won't care about the consequences of this drug. We must limit the power of big companies like Syngenta because they aren't looking out for the people's best interests.
Emma Schrader
10/29/2014 07:41:17 am
This article really shows that big powerful companies will do anything to save money. The fact that Syngenta is willing to discredit Tyrone Hayes is absolutely insane. Syngenta had done the same to a collegue of Tyrone. I can't believe that Tyrone had people following and bugging him. This company is taking anything Tyrone says and try's to twist it and make him seem like he is making mistakes with is investigation of the company. Tyrone was hired by Syngenta and then they tore his reputation down just because they didn't like the outcome of his tests on their company. I think that theses big companies have too much power and need to be looked at closer than they are now.
Ryan O'Donnell
10/29/2014 08:06:09 am
The extent to which Syngenta to try and stop Hayes is shocking. This article truly shows how far a company will go to try and save their money. They invaded Hayes's privacy, to try and discredit him. We need people like Tyrone Hayes to show the wrong doings of these mega companies.
Joseph Mullen
10/30/2014 11:56:19 am
I completely agree with you. People like Tyrone Hayes can really make the difference when it comes to huge companies and their exploitation of the environment. At the same time we have to worry that what Syngenta has done to Mr. Hayes might scare off other researchers and whistle blowers from coming to the public with their findings regarding huge companies.
Sarah Walsh
10/29/2014 08:48:11 am
The extent of dehumanization that seems to occur within companies is appalling. Greed is a corruptive force, unfortunately, and Syngenta was willing to put its own betterment before the well-being of innocent strangers. Their crimes against Tyrone Hayes are crimes against humanity, too. All their efforts to silence him, all the lists that they made of ways to discredit him and people they convinced to attack his ideas were direct efforts to allow themselves the ability to continue selling a product that they knew was harming people in very serious ways. It frightens me how the information we, as the public, have access to can be controlled by self-serving companies; this felt more like the content of a dystopian novel then a real-life situation. We must put a fair amount of faith in our world's scientists and the fact that many of them were able to be bought into discrediting Hayes is alarming. Furthermore, I think the EPA should operate more like the European Union does. If there is cause for concern then a product should be banned as a preventative measure. We shouldn't wait for the worst and then ban it. It's all just immensely disconcerting.
Isha Khawaja
1/20/2015 11:52:20 am
I wasn't aware that the EU bans a product as a preventative measure, thats a much smarter plan. Its better to be proactive like the EU rather than reactive like the U.S.
Lucas Brennan
10/29/2014 09:00:09 am
Tyrone Hayes is someone who overcame extreme adversity in trying to open peoples eyes the harms that atrazine is causing to not only humans but an entire ecosystem. Syngenta, the company that asked Tyrone to do this research, went to such great lengths to attempt to discredit his findings in anyway they could. I was flabbergasted that they tried to mentally break him down and humiliate him solely to continue to make money and keep their lobbying influence. After reading this article I see what is wrong with big chemical companies and also wonder what more damaging things are being released into the environment that we are not even aware of? Without Tyrone's tenacity we wouldn't know anything about atrazine and the harms it's doing to us. His ability to stay poised amazes me.,
Brian Sputh
10/29/2014 11:26:59 am
I agree with you Lucas. So many big corporations are trying to discredit scientists that are trying to conduct research that will prove the company wrong. Hayes has been studying the effects of atrazine for years, and has found that it is causing harm to humans and the ecosystem. Companies try to hide the negative effects of products and Hayes, who tried to bring out the negative effects, was humiliated and broken down just to make sure he didn't expose the truth behind Syngenta.
Alyssa Ruml
10/29/2014 09:14:34 am
It's absolutely ridiculous the extent the atrazine corporation went to try and completely sabotage Hayes' reputation and scientific results. It's so disappointing to see that the creators or atrazine really just couldn't care less about our health; they just care about their own wealth. They'd rather degrade Hayes' completely accurate results in order to safe themselves, this is beyond selfish to say the least, money is truly the root of all evil.
William Fridrich
10/29/2014 09:46:29 am
After reading this article, it's frightening to think what kind of people are out there that have the moral capacity to continually seek and discredit another person only to continue to sell a product that they know is harming people and animals on a daily basis. Money has far too much power over just about anything, and it clearly shows when the only research that was taken into consideration by the EPA were the tests funded by the company producing the product. If anything, those tests should be immediately disregarded due to potential bias. It's been six months since the publication of this article, and still a Google search of "Tyone Hayes" has its first result being "Tyrone Hayes Not Credible". How many people still don't know about the harmful affects of Atrazine, and how long will it be until the rest of the world is aware, and someone does something about it?
Tara Litvin
10/29/2014 11:55:02 am
You make a good point. Money really does control every aspect of our government. Syngenta is too powerful and influential. If money didn't rule our world, the EPA would have banned atrazine at first sight of it having these harmful effects.
Brian Sputh
10/29/2014 11:22:35 am
I feel as if what the other scientists are doing to Hayes just isn't fair. Hayes has been a gifted scientist for years and deserves to be respected by the scientific community. It's absurd that the atrazine companies had tried to manipulate and sabotage all of Hayes' hardwork. I find it amazing that Hayes would have to stay in a different hotel every night when going to conferences becuase he was afraid of people sabotaging his work and ominous strangers sitting in on them. Hayes has been studying atrazine for the last 15 years and has built up a marvelous reputation that doesn't deserve to be sabotaged or ruined.
Kaitlyn Gibbons
10/29/2014 11:26:02 am
I agree, it truly is insane to think about the persistence this company has to destroy Haye's career. It is rightening, I can only imagine how many other companies have done things like Syngenta.
Kaitlyn Gibbons
10/29/2014 11:23:31 am
I can not fathom the extent a company like Syngenta will go to continue earning money. Our society is so selfish and money driven; companies do not care if they're hurting innocent people and animals. If money is being earned and questions are not asked they are happy. I am thankful that Haye's research was not disproved and we can see the harm these chemicals are doing to us. I believe our government needs to address the corrupt actions of big business.
Jake Vail
10/29/2014 09:20:05 pm
Kaitlyn, I completely agree with you. Todays scientific society is largely controlled by companies who only want to make money and don't care who or what they hurt in the process. I also agree in that the government needs to step up and cut down big business for a healthier united states.
Tara Litvin
10/29/2014 11:49:05 am
It's unbelievable how corrupt businesses can be. Syngenta, after discovering their product was causing these horrible effects, like male frogs developing eggs in their testes, they did not try to change atrazine to be less harmful or cut back on its use. Instead they chose to discredit an intelligent respectable scientist and conduct other experiments, screwing data to fit what they wanted to see. The business owners did not care for the environment or the animals, not to mention the effects this will have on humans if we use the frogs as a indicator for the future. They only care for the money they gain from the chemical.
Joseph Mullen
10/29/2014 12:26:21 pm
Once again, greed seems to win out over what is good for the enviroment. The chemical industry is a multi billion dollar a year industry. For the people at Syngenta, money in their pockets is more important than the health of all those affected by their products. Not only that, but to protect their life supported by the pollution of the enviroment they tried to publicly destroy Hayes.his whole situation outrages me
Kyle Wilson
10/29/2014 12:44:19 pm
What is shocking about the article is how far Syngenta goes to undermine Tyrone Hayes. Hayes is merely trying to protect living organisms from harmful chemicals yet Syngenta acts as if Hayes is the one damaging the environment. Syngenta should be ashamed of themselves for the dirty tactics they use against Hayes, such as microanalyzing his work to a fault and questioning his background. The world needs more people like Tyrone Hayes who are not afraid to look for the truth and unveil it to the world.
Anthony Pacia
10/29/2014 11:13:16 pm
I agree that we need more people like Hayes but we shouldn't let them be punished like him. Syngenta should be punished for its attempts to destroy a man's life so that it can continue to produce a chemical that is harmful to the environment but makes them billions.
Jake Vail
10/29/2014 09:16:52 pm
Its insane that the company Syngenta spent so much time tracking down Tyrone Hayes. Its really a shame that he had to go to such great lengths just to hide his papers and emails when he should have been able to share them freely. I like that Hayes is not in love with the idea of the serious scientific norm, and that he can be himself and still produce quality work. I think that the scientific community needs more people like Tyrone Hayes, perhaps we can make even more of a difference and get more people into the field if they know they don't need to conform and that they can conduct their research without the fear of being shot down by their peers.
Mariel Lucian
10/30/2014 11:05:37 am
Another interesting point Jake. Tyrone is such a unique and interesting person that it truly a shame what happened to him, I agree that more scientists need to be like Hayes.
Ryan Fargione
10/30/2014 01:34:23 am
It's wild how far a company will go to devalue findings such as tyrone's. The company's behavior was juvenile, the fact that it would rather spend its resources to discredit a reputable scientist rather than find a better alternative to atrazine is silly.
Mariel Lucian
10/30/2014 11:03:25 am
This article really opened up my eyes to the power and money supported by the herbicide industry in the United States. The fact that Syngenta went as far as purchasing Hayes' name on google to hide his research is astounding and revolting. Incredilious at this statement I even googled his name because I didn't believe it yet just as presented the first article to appear was "Tyrone Hayes not credible". The irony of this situation isn't lost on me; here this poor man was approached by atrazene to perform experiments researching the safety of the chemical yet they turn around and discredit his findings while insulting his skills. It seems to me if you were concerned enough to hire a scientist to research your herbicide that you're curious about the findings. Hayes simply did his job & when the results not only said that it was harmful but also dangerous enough to cause eggs to develop in male frogs the company panicked. Such selfishness and greed shouldn't surprise me anymore yet this case found a way.
Alyssa Lofaro
1/10/2015 05:33:34 am
I agree with you Mariel, about the irony of the situaction.
Robert Boos
10/30/2014 10:33:37 pm
The most moving part of this article is just how much power corporations have. You can extrapolate and assume "yeah they have alot of power", but just how powerful they are is really invisible until you see something like this. They were literally buying out colleges and universities just to alter teachings in their favor. We can try to stop it all we want but the power is beyond what we can control at this point. These corporations are so deeply embedded in our culture and government that it is nearly impossible for us to change. How can we control something that is supposed to control us?
Ryan Rattazzi
10/31/2014 12:09:11 am
All I can think, is that this shouldn't happen in our world today. People who clearly have only the truest of good intentions, such as Tyrone Hayes, should not be able to be shut down by such an evil corporation as Syngenta. I had no idea about any of this until I read this article, and I think one of the best things we could do to put a stop to it is to get articles like this famous, and created world where everyone knows about these atrocities.
Evan D'Agostino
1/7/2015 06:06:48 am
Facts.
Evan D'Agostino
1/7/2015 06:06:08 am
The fact that Syngenta went so far as to shut down Tyronne Hayes is just awful. These huge companies are motivated by one thing. Money. They dont care about anything else. They just want to make sure that they get paid. They dont care about the environment or even people as individuals. Now as people of the United States, We are responsible for informing ourselves on current issues. I had no idea what was happening here until I read this article. This is an xample of how we as a society are out of touch with what is going on in our own country.
Alyssa Lofaro
1/10/2015 05:31:59 am
What is shocking about the article is how far Syngenta goes to undermine Tyrone Hayes and how they spent so much money and resoucres to track him down. Tyrone is such and interesting and inspiring that its such ashame what happen to him. Its crazy to also think that most people under appriate scientists just like in Tyrones case. We need more people in the world like him and more people need to appriate them.
Isha Khawaja
1/20/2015 11:46:32 am
I believe Tyrone Hayes isn't the only one who suffered from powerful corporations. If we are only reading about one case, there has to be hundreds if not thousands of more. Maybe we'll slowly find out information like in Hayes case, or maybe we'll never know. Its difficult for common people to fight back against strong corporations. All we can do is let others be aware of whats going on in our own soil. Leave a Reply. |
