Kidney Disease, Glyphosate and the Corruption of Science

In 2019, Sarath Gunatilake and Channa Jayasumana, two scientists who ran a study on the connection between glyphosate and chronic kidney disease in Sri Lanka, were awarded the prestigious AAAS award for Scientific Freedom and Responsibility. The scientists had “faced death threats and claims of research misconduct while working to determine the cause of a kidney disease epidemic that has claimed tens of thousands of lives in their home country of Sri Lanka and around the world,” according to an AAAS press release that has since been taken down.

The award was stripped the next day, after the agricultural chemical industry put pressure on AAAS and called for more scientific assessment on the links between glyphosate and kidney disease. This award withdrawal exposed AAAS’s close ties to Monsanto and agrochemical industry.

Ultimately, the scientists were granted the award, though the corruption and capture of science by industry was made abundantly clear.