Among discussions of the implications of the Davis experiment1 to detect solar neutrinos, there have been several suggestions that manifestations of solar activity are related to the flux of the neutrinos2–4. For example, it has been implied that (1) the physical processes in the deep interior of the Sun are related to, or even produce, the solar activity (exemplified by solar flares and sunspots) observed in the photosphere2,4; or that (2) some of the observed neutrinos are produced in nuclear reaction processes caused by energetic particles in solar flares and solar active regions3. These suggestions have been speculative because the available solar neutrino data covered only a fraction of a solar cycle. We now re-examine the proposals using data over a significantly longer time base and find no evidence for either of these possibilities.