Biostitute (biologist + prostitute)
A “biostitute” (biologist + prostitute) is a person who works for an industry such as Big Ag (agriculture), Big Oil, Big Pharma (pharmaceuticals) or Big Tobacco and is paid to defend the company’s actions or proposed actions. This person is not always a biologist, and could be a chemist, a physicist or another kind of scientist. The term began in the early 1970s (around the time of the passage of the Clean Water Act of 1972 and similar environmental legislation). It’s not known who coined the term.
“Then there is the biostitute, the wildlife professional whose fundings and positions are determined in advance by the company, agency, or organization who pays his salary or consulting fee. He’s the pseudoscientist who develops his conclusions and positions and then conducts his research and analysis to prove it” was printed in Proceedings of the Annual Meeting (International Association of Game, Fish, and Conservation Commissioners, 1971). “‘Biostitutes’ (a biologist who prostitutes his knowledge to the commercial world)” was printed in the Scranton (PA) Times on October 16, 1973. “A biostitute, in animal parlance, is a biologist who has prostituted himself” was printed in the Hartford (CT) Courant on December 16, 1973.
Wiktionary: biostitute
Etymology
Blend of biology + prostitute
Noun
biostitute (plural biostitutes)
1. (slang, derogatory) A biologist who lies for money.
Google Books
Proceedings of the Annual Meeting
International Association of Game, Fish, and Conservation Commissioners
1971 (This Google Books date might be incorrect.—ed.)
Pg. 29:
Then there is the biostitute, the wildlife professional whose fundings and positions are determined in advance by the company, agency, or organization who pays his salary or consulting fee. He’s the pseudoscientist who develops his conclusions and positions and then conducts his research and analysis to prove it.
Newspapers.com
16 October 1973, Scranton (PA) Times, “Your Opinion,” pg. 6, col. 2:
The hunter’s mirror is transparently tinned by the munitions industry and its henchmen the “biostitutes” (a biologist who prostitutes his knowledge to the commercial world), who make up the state fish and game commissions and verious segments of the federal government.
(...)
ANIMAL LOVER
Newspapers.com
16 December 1973, Hartford (CT) Courant, “Cleveland Amory’s ‘Animail,’” pg. 9E, col. 5:
Q. I heard some animal person in Washington, D.C. describe some scientist as a “biostitute.” What on earth is a biostitute?—Y.S., Columbia, Md.
A. A biostitute, in animal parlance, is a biologist who has prostituted himself. In other words, someone who says the things hunter, furriers or laboratory experimenters want said—i.e., that we must club more seals. Not to make more fur coats—perish the thought—but because it’s good for herd “management.” It’s funny about that word “management,’ It’s always so good, of course, for man.
19 July 1981, Sunday Star (Toronto, ON), “Canada finds U.S. allies on acid rain” by Ross Howard, pg. B7, col. 2:
He (Martin Pfeiffer—ed.) damns the “biostitutes”—scientists and spokesman for the polluting industries who claim acid rain is unproven in Canada or the United States.
January 1992, Audubon (New York, NY), “When a Whistle Blows in the Forest…” by Paul Schneider, pg. 42:
And he is not a biostitute, skewing his discipline to justify meeting unhealthy ...
Google Groups: sci.bio.ecology
Spotted owls - question
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Oct 14, 1993, 11:20:59 PM
Richard Porter’s post about “scince” [sic] funded by Weyerhauser being as valid as that funded by other sources brings to mind an experience I had representing the County of Santa Barbara Resource Management Department in trying to decide the significance of a native grassland (native grasslands are rare in California outside the Great Basin). A “money is no object” developer hired a grassland expert to testify that the grassland would be a temporary phenomenon if left alone. Although presented as scientific fact, this is a gross distortion of what is known about native grasslands in our area, as the biostitute (our term for the phenomenon here in S.B.) was well aware.
Google Groups: bionet.general
ethical standards biol
AlangM Stein
May 13, 1994, 7:22:11 PM
The terms “liar” for lawyer and biostitute for biologist can be avoided by the adoption of a set of ethical standards governing the dividing line between truth and corporate or government policy?
Google Groups: talk.environment
Seal demand outstrips supply
Dave Wheeler
May 3, 1996, 3:00:00 AM
(...)
Despite the funding of the anti-whaling scientists, they discovered significant errors in the “work” of the Norwegian biostitutes.
Urban Dictionary
biostitute
In envoronmental law, an expert wittness, usually a biologist, who will say whatever you pay him to.
that fucking biostitute testified that petrolium is good for wildlife.
by fireninja October 24, 2003
Google Groups: tx.politics
“WE ARE BIOSTITUTES AND PROUD OF IT.”
torresD
Apr 10, 2005, 12:26:40 AM
http://www.biostitutes.com
BIOSTITUTES UNLIMITED is a confederaton of biologists,
ecologists, and environmental scientists who will rent
their expertise and credentials to the highest bidder,
which is in nearly every case is an environmentally
destructive industry.
Urban Dictionary
biostitute
A biological sciences worker who misrepresents research or commits fraud for the benefit of commercial interests or to make a personal profit.
“She kept lecturing about the health benefits of red wine, but she was just being a biostitute for Gallo, who sponsored her research”.
“He made 3 million Euros by publishing the health benefits of a worthless drug.”
by CynicalGeek May 19, 2006
Urban Dictionary
Biostitute
A biologist who works purely for the money. Similar to an archaeostitute.
Biostitutes need to use protection, too.
by Garett Thomas September 13, 2006
Twitter
Robert F. Kennedy Jr
@RobertKennedyJr
House Republicans vote to ban experts from EPA’s Scientific Advisory Board, hoping to pack with corporate biostitutes http://tinyurl.com/mejqbzc
11:52 AM · Nov 20, 2014·Twitter Web Client
YouTube
How to Pronounce Biostitute
Feb 26, 2015
Pronunciation Guide
This video shows you how to pronounce Biostitute
Twitter
GMWatch
@GMWatch
Tyrone Hayes on crooked science, “biostitutes” and why we should shun GMOs http://treehugger.com/sustainable-agriculture/tyrone-hayes-misfortune-frogs-crooked-science-and-why-we-should-shun-gmos.html #gmo
12:23 PM · Mar 15, 2015·TweetDeck
Twitter
Saleem Abdul
@Saleem786
Sciences under the realm of capitalism will forever be under the thumb of the highest paying biostitutes
Quote Tweet
Lee Camp [Redacted]
@LeeCamp
· Jan 7, 2019
“Biostitute” = a derogatory term for biological scientists hired to misrepresent research or commit fraud
a.k.a. If you have enough money, you can pay a few scientists to say whatever you want.
Nobody tell Monsanto!
https://youtube.com/watch?v=L0DracbgZro
7:21 PM · Jan 7, 2019·Twitter for iPad
Twitter
They Say Billionaires Taste Like Chicken
@DaBeaverMeister
One of my former girlfriends was the staff toxicologist for the toxic spill response unit of a state Dept of Fish & Wildlife. She has a PhD in biology, very bright. She used to refer to the biologists that worked for the polluting industries as “biostitutes.” She was a good one!
2:03 AM · Aug 12, 2021·Twitter Web App
Twitter
Melting Mermaid🍀🍀🍀#FreeAssange
@charlamanesbane
Replying to @mousdrvr
RFK jr wrote about this. Corporate capture of scientists. He called them biostitutes. Probably not very popular in those circles.
9:34 AM · Jan 1, 2022·Twitter for iPad
Twitter
Alex sez #SkilledAndTrained #AHPA will win
@AlxLndOMountain
Replying to @veenadubal and @Eric_A_Stanley
and old clean water act attorney friend called biologists who shilled for their corporate clients “biostitutes.”
7:51 PM · Feb 22, 2022·Twitter Web App
Twitter
George, an anti-vaxxer
@GRosethefirst
Replying to @MustardSammich
So now, we can be assured, when the MSM, medical journals, biostitutes, or politicians say “Covid has done this terrible thing,” they mean, “Yet one more terrible thing has resulted due to our misguided and duplicitous actions re covid.”
2:45 PM · Jul 19, 2022·Twitter Web App