A recent conference on nanoplastics at the European Parliament is drawing scrutiny after an investigation found that its co-hosts were affiliated with an alleged religious cult that claims humanity will go extinct by 2036.
What happened?
The investigation from openDemocracy, republished by the Nepali Times, found the group, AllatRa, spread pseudoscience theories that global climate change was caused by a combination of plastic pollution and a cosmic phenomenon that occurs every 12,000 years.
Despite the widely debunked claims, the AllatRa hosted a February event at the European Parliament titled "Nanoplastics: Hidden connections and emerging risks" alongside Czech lawmaker Ondřej Knotek, the outlet reported.
OpenDemocracy noted that the event hosted panels that mixed real scientists and members of the AllatRa think tank.
While nano and microplastics are real environmental and health concerns in the scientific community, the concerns raised by openDemocracy centered on how AllatRa allegedly twists expert opinions to support its pseudoscience conclusions.
The group's claims run against the overwhelming scientific consensus summarized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which has found that human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are unequivocally warming the planet.
TCD Picks » EDF Spotlight
💡EDF's Vital Signs newsletter delivers stories about game-changing solutions close to home and around the world
OpenDemocracy also found several scientists whose work appeared in AllatRa materials that said the group used their remarks to imply support for conclusions they did not actually back. Richard Thompson, a marine biology professor at the University of Plymouth, told the outlet: "They are splicing pieces of information together and reaching conclusions that are not supported by science."
Turkish marine biologist Sedat Gündoğdu, who asked AllatRa to remove his interview from one of its documentaries, criticized the group's claims.
"In the light of our current knowledge, it is nonsense to establish a relationship between nanoplastics and what is claimed to be intellectual extinction," Gündoğdu said, as reported by openDemocracy.
Why does it matter?
Experts warned that misleading climate claims can steer public attention away from measures that would actually address the crisis. In that sense, exaggerating the role of plastic pollution in climate change — despite plastic waste being a serious problem in its own right — can distract from the urgent need to cut fossil fuel use.
As Thompson told openDemocracy, "saying that microplastics are already becoming a driver of climate instability is an overstatement."
"Disinformation exploits the nature of science: we know that climate change is man-made and we're affected by it," Patrycja Sasnal, member of the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee, told the outlet.
That kind of confusion can make it harder to understand which actions are most effective and dissuade policymakers from enacting helpful climate laws.
What are people saying?
Some European officials have expressed alarm that AllatRa was given such a visible platform.
"To the casual observer, it seems bizarre that an organisation with roots in esotericism and impending apocalypse would knock on the doors of the European Parliament or UN climate summits," security researcher Petra Mlejnková told openDemocracy. "However, from a radicalisation and influence perspective, this strategy serves a critical objective. Such organisations desperately crave mainstream validation to shield themselves from being labelled as dangerous or sectarian."
Get TCD's free newsletters for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here.
