University under fire for handling of professor who testifies against Monsanto

(UPDATED to include news that University drops restrictions on Carpenter.)

University officials in New York have been wrongfully restricting the activities of a long-tenured professor, helping Monsanto and its owner Bayer AG undermine the professor’s credibility as an expert witness in litigation over the harmful impacts of toxic chemicals, according to a complaint submitted to the university on Tuesday.

The complaint was filed with the University at Albany by the Washington, D.C.-based Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), an advocacy group representing public employees involved in environmental work, on behalf of David Carpenter, director of the university’s Institute for Health and the Environment. The university is part of the State University of New York (SUNY).

The University at Albany has come under fire for taking various actions to limit Carpenter’s work over the last year, including banishing him from campus and barring him from teaching classes. The complaint alleges that the university did so because of pressure from the chemical industry, causing “social, emotional and reputational harm” to Carpenter.

“Dr. Carpenter’s work has drawn the ire of chemical companies because it provides scientific evidence of the toxicity and health impacts of their products and supports compensation for those who have been injured,” PEER states in its complaint. “It appears that the actions taken against Dr. Carpenter make the University complicit in an effort to silence him and undermine the credibility of his research and expert testimony regarding the health impacts of toxic chemicals.”

Supporters of Carpenter are planning a rally at the state capitol building in Albany on Thursday. They have also set up a website to support him, and have launched a petition drive demanding he be fully re-instated at the university. Roughly 900 people had signed the petition as of Monday.

The university issued a statement Tuesday afternoon saying the issue with Carpenter is a “matter of compliance and is wholly independent of the content of the testimony, the parties to the litigation or the work being performed.”

The university further said that it has a responsibility “to operate with the highest legal and ethical standards, and to follow the law and procedures without undue consideration of external influence and pressure.” 

By Tuesday night the university amended its statement to say that Carpenter was “no longer on an alternate assignment and may now teach and conduct research on campus. As is standard, UAlbany and Dr. Carpenter also entered into a Conflict Management Plan to ensure future activities are carried out in compliance with all applicable laws and policies.”

Expertise in PCBs

Carpenter has spent more than 35 years helping lead public health research activities at the university and has focused his work on the study of environmental causes of human disease. A big part of that work has looked at the health effects of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and certain pesticides in Native American and Alaskan Native communities as well as in Anniston, Alabama, where Monsanto Co. once made PCBs.

Because of his research, Carpenter has been a key expert witness for plaintiffs in multiple court cases over PCBs, pitting him against powerful chemical industry interests that include Bayer, which bought Monsanto in 2018. Bayer has been fending off an onslaught of litigation against Monsanto over PCB contamination claims as well as claims brought by cancer victims who blame their illnesses on exposure to Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide.

PCBs were banned in the United States in 1979 because of evidence of their toxicity to humans and wildlife but they still persist in the environment. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers them to be probable carcinogens. Monsanto, the key maker of PCBs, has faced claims from around the country for decades over PCB contamination, and paid out hundreds of millions of dollars.

In one of the latest such cases, in December, Oregon’s attorney general announced a settlement with Monsanto of nearly $700 million over PCB contamination claims in that state.

Carpenter’s trouble with his employer began after a law firm working for Monsanto filed a records request with the university, seeking details about Carpenter’s funding, including information about payments for his expert witness work and how those funds were used for research programs.

The university then limited his work, saying that he was the subject of investigation. Recently, university officials have sought to screen Carpenter’s testimony in court cases for potential conflicts of interest, according to PEER.

Monsanto has alleged in a recent court filing that Carpenter applied money earned from plaintiffs’ lawyers “to his research endeavors,” and has “failed to disclose this to the scientific journals in which his research is published.”

“Carpenter’s historical failure to disclose conflicts continues to call into question the credibility of his opinions,” Monsanto states in a Feb. 3 filing in a PCB case in St. Louis County Circuit Court in Missouri.

University “mistreatment” alleged

PEER alleges that University President Havidán Rodríguez and other university officials have improperly restricted Carpenter’s “academic freedom and freedom of expression,” and engaged in “wrongful retaliatory actions” against the professor.

“Professional colleagues, students and potential clients are aware that Dr. Carpenter has been suspended from teaching and barred from the campus, and assume he must have done something seriously wrong to occasion such drastic restrictions for such an extended period,” the PEER complaint states.

PEER demands the immediate restoration of Carpenter’s teaching privileges and campus access along with a “formal censure” of university administrators.

“Like any SUNY faculty member, Dr. Carpenter has the right to testify in court based upon his expertise on his own time,” PEER lawyer Coleen Teubner said in a statement. “We want to end the University’s mistreatment of Dr. Carpenter and ensure that no other member of the faculty is subjected to it.”