A Brookings-based entomologist for the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service has won a prestigious national award for civic courage for speaking out on his insect and pesticide research despite what he says is the agency’s effort to “suppress” his work.

Jonathan Lundgren of United States Department of Agriculture’s laboratory north of Brookings received the Callaway Award for Civic Courage, intended to honor those who “at some personal risk, take a public stance to advance truth and justice, and who challenge prevailing conditions in pursuit of the common good.” Lundgren was in Washington, D.C., on Monday to receive the honor.

Two others besides Lundgren were honored: John R. Crane, Former Assistant Inspector General, Department of Defense, for “Protecting Whistleblowers from Government Abuse,” and  James Love & Manon Ress, Ph.D., Knowledge Ecology International, for “Breaking Big Pharma’s Grip to Make Drugs Affordable for Poorer Countries and Revolutionizing Intellectual Property Rights”

‘In the crosshairs’

The program note about Lundgren’s award in the online announcement of the awards at www.callawayawards.org describes Lundgren as an “Entomologist in the Crosshairs of Science and Corporate Politics.”

Lundgren recently drew attention in the science community and the media when he publicly filed an official whistleblower retaliation complaint with the federal Merit Systems Protection Board. He alleges that the USDA suppressed scientific research and retaliated against him for filing a scientific integrity complaint with the Department of Agriculture. Lundgren filed the scientific integrity complaint in fall 2014 and filed the whistleblower retaliation complaint in October 2015.

“The whole situation has changed my career trajectory as a result of this. I was simply doing my job, but because the science is not convenient, it elicited a pretty severe reaction,” Lundgren told the Capital Journal in a telephone interview on Saturday, Nov. 28. “Hopefully it will open the door so that other scientists are able to have complete and unencumbered freedom to discuss their research and where it fits into the grand scheme of things within the federal government and within university systems as well. Scientific freedom is the same as freedom of speech. If we don’t have it, how can we move forward as a society? If we can’t even discuss certain topics because they’re too controversial, then we’re in serious problems. We’re in for trouble.”

The research

Lundgren’s research deals with assessing environmental risks associated with neonicotinoid insecticides, including the potentially detrimental effects such pesticides can have on beneficial pollinator insects..

“These are the chemistries used on most insecticidal seed treatments on most crops right now, corn, sunflowers, wheat, soybeans, cotton, alfalfa, you name it. If it comes with a colored seed, chances are really good it has neonicotinoids on it,” Lundgren told the Capital Journal. “I think the general theme of the research results was that these insecticidal seed treatments weren’t helping farmers and that they were having an environmental effect. The science was really strong on that, including my own data.”

Lundgren has also done work with a new form of genetic pesticide called RNAi, which silences critical gene functions in pests. RNAi stands for “RNA interference.” Lundgren’s research has included such topics as the risks posed to non-target insects by RNAi-based GM crops.

“One of the aspects of my research program has been on risk assessment of pesticides and genetically modified crops and making sure that these things are safe for the environment. I’m not anti-pesticides and I’m not anti-GM crops,” Lundgren said in his visit with the Capital Journal. “I do think we need to be using these things sensibly and we do need to have a clear perception of their risks.”