Why has the US government profiled pesticide scientists?

Alasdair speaks to journalist Margot Gibbs about her investigation into a US government-funded PR firm that profiled pesticide scientists.
Last autumn, Lighthouse Reports - in collaboration with media partners across Europe - published an investigation into v-Fluence, a US-based PR firm that worked to discredit anti-pesticide scientists and campaigners.
Alasdair speaks to Margot Gibbs, a journalist who led the investigation, about its findings and what it reveals about the agro-chemicals lobby.
Margot Gibbs is an investigative reporter at Lighthouse Reports focusing on money trails and food systems reporting. Before joining Lighthouse she was a reporter for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and Finance Uncovered.
Audio engineering by Vasko Kostovski.
Further reading:
• 'US-funded ‘social network’ attacking pesticide critics shuts down after Guardian investigation (theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/10/v-fluence-…)', The Guardian, February 2025
• 'Poison PR (lighthousereports.com/investigation/poison-pr)', Lighthouse Reports, September 2024
• 'How the US agrochemical lobby is meddling in the future of Kenyan farming (thenewhumanitarian.org/investigations/2024/09/…)', The New Humanitarian, September 2024
• 'Secret files suggest chemical giant feared weedkiller’s link to Parkinson’s disease (theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/20/syngenta-w…)', The Guardian, October 2022
• '"Monsanto papers": the pesticide giant's war against science (lemonde.fr/planete/article/2017/06/01/monsanto…)', Le Monde, June 2017
• Merchants of Doubt (merchantsofdoubt.org), Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway, 2010
Send us Fan Mail (buzzsprout.com/1695859/fan_mail/new)
Find all our latest investigations, features and interviews at landclimate.org