Managing Uncomfortable Knowledge about Pesticides: New Zealand’s Handling of Glyphosate Information

The knowledge that a population possesses will significantly mediate their resistance to environmental injustices. For instance, if people are aware of the harmfulness of pesticides applied in public parks, they will be more likely to organize and pressure politicians to create laws that will curb or perhaps even ban the application of such pesticides on public lands, as has occurred in Montréal. Drawing on the previous scholarship about the management of uncomfortable knowledge, this paper analyses the way government agencies manage uncomfortable knowledge about pesticides. Towards that end, I focused on the New Zealand government’s production of knowledge about Monsanto’s glyphosate herbicide. This herbicide makes for a remarkable case to study. While the United Nations’ International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as a group 2A carcinogen in 2015, it has since become the world’s best-selling herbicide. New Zealand is also a strategic case selection. While the country regularly presents itself as being environmentally responsible, its restrictions on glyphosate are comparatively low and has a relatively high use. Moreover, in Auckland (i.e. New Zealand’s largest city) the herbicide is regularly applied to roadways, sidewalks, parks and sports fields.

This paper traces the country’s use of glyphosate to the knowledge ecosystem that government agencies perpetuate about the herbicide. Towards that end the paper identifies the tactics government agents have used, which include interfering with the production and dissemination of uncomfortable knowledge about glyphosate. As well, based on a content analysis of their communications campaign (which includes press releases, quotes in the media, and other means of communication) about glyphosate, the paper identify the tactics they used to neutralise uncomfortable knowledge that couldn’t be suppressed, which will include denial, downplaying and distraction tactics.