USDA Scientist Punished for Pollinator Research

Having worked in a USDA/ARS lab as just a tech, I can note a few things that might be of interest (my observations only of course).

1. Industry connections are very deep in USDA/ARS.

2. Managers are scientists. This is a double edged sword. Often scientists are not very good managers, but managers without deep science knowledge would cause other issues.

The link to the "whistleblower narrative" at the bottom is quite interesting.

http://www.peer.org/assets/docs/usda/10_26_15_Lundgren_Whist...

First impression is the Papiernik character is a micro-manager who may or may not have control issues. Then again you have to consider who wrote the narrative.

Power corrupts.

Good. We need to punish those who peddle false information on behalf of the chemical industry.

If this is irony then it's pretty dumb. The scientist is being suspended for "publishing research about adverse effects on monarch butterflies from widely-used neonicotinoid insecticides"