Company’s own records revealed damning truth of glyphosate-based herbicides’ link to cancer This article was originally published in The Guardian. By Carey Gillam It was a verdict heard around the world. In a stunning blow to one of the world’s largest seed and chemical companies, jurors in San Francisco have told Monsanto it must pay $289m in damages to a man ... One Man’s Suffering Exposed Monsanto’s Secrets to the World
The following is an excerpt from Chapter 4, “Seedy Business: What Big Food is hiding with its slick PR campaign on GMOs,” by Gary Ruskin, co-director of the public watchdog group US Right to Know. When assessing whether or not to trust the agrichemical companies and their genetically engineered food, it is noteworthy that several ... What the agrichemical and tobacco industries have in common: PR firms, operatives, tactics
U.S. Right to Know investigates corporate wrongdoing and government failures that threaten the health of people around the world. Over the past decade, we have obtained and reported on hundreds of thousands of pages of documents that shine light on how corporations and government agencies mislead the public. We share these documents free of charge ... U.S. Right to Know: Top findings
Monsanto’s former Director of Corporate Communications Jay Byrne, president of the public relations firm v-Fluence, is a key player in the covert propaganda and lobbying campaigns of the world’s largest agrichemical companies. Emails obtained by U.S. Right to Know, posted in the UCSF Chemical Industry Documents Archive, reveal a range of deceptive tactics Byrne and ... Jay Byrne: Meet the man behind USAID-funded attacks on pesticide critics
In 2021, the Society for Professional Journalists, NorCal chapter, honored U.S. Right to Know with the James Madison Freedom of Information Awards for our work obtaining internal corporate documents that showed how Monsanto recruited public university professors to support its PR goals. Concerned that our research would uncover its influence in academic circles, Monsanto “created ... Monsanto’s campaign against U.S. Right To Know: Read the documents
The Alliance for Science is a public relations campaign that trains spokespeople and creates networks of influence, particularly in African countries, to persuade the public and policymakers to accept GMOs and pesticides. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the effort in 2014 with a $5.6 million grant and has since donated $22 million to ... Gates-funded ‘Alliance for Science’ accused of peddling misinformation
Pesticide companies use stealth tactics to dominate Google News with industry messaging and weaponize the web. Their documents reveal some details about how they do it.
Our series of fact sheets shines light on the pesticide industry's hidden propaganda network: the front groups, academics, journalists and others the pesticide companies rely on for their PR and product-defense campaigns.
Internal documents reveal how pesticide firms led attacks on scientists from under the cover of front groups connected to the climate science denial network.
Read what the Monsanto documents reveal about the key role academics and universities play in pesticide industry product-defense efforts to protect glyphosate and the GMO seeds designed to tolerate the chemical.
“It is not an exaggeration to say that in the product defense model, the investigator starts with an answer, then figures out the best way to support it.” David Michaels, The Triumph of Doubt: Dark Money and the Science of Deception _______ The following is an excerpt from Merchants of Poison: How Monsanto Sold the ... Internal documents reveal pesticide industry science denial and manipulation: glyphosate case study
Comprehensive review of Monsanto’s product-defense strategy, based on their own documents, reveals the science-denial, attacks on scientists, astroturf operations and other disinformation tactics Bayer and Monsanto used to protect sales of Roundup weed killers.
Originally posted May 2019; updated November 2020 Public relations firms Bayer AG and Monsanto relied on to deflect cancer concerns about glyphosate — including FTI consulting, Ketchum PR and FleishmanHillard — have long histories of using deceptive tactics to promote pesticide, tobacco and oil industry interests. Updates FTI Consulting’s shady tactics for the oil industry: Based on ... Bayer’s shady PR firms: FleishmanHillard, Ketchum, FTI Consulting
Please support our food investigations by making atax-deductible donation today. Internal Monsanto documents released in 2019 provide a rare look inside pesticide and food companies that try to discredit public interest groups and journalists. The documents (posted here) show that Monsanto and its new owner, Bayer, were especially worried about U.S. Right to Know, a ... 10 Revelations from the U.S. Right to Know Investigations
U.S. Right to Know, a nonprofit investigative group, has obtained hundreds of thousands of pages of documents revealing – for the first time – how food and pesticide corporations are working behind the scenes to undermine our nation’s scientific, academic, political and regulatory institutions. Many of these documents are now posted in the free, searchable ... Top Findings of the U.S. Right To Know Investigations
Nina Fedoroff, PhD, is one of the most influential scientists advocating for the proliferation and deregulation of genetically engineered foods. As president and board chair of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) from 2011-2013, she used her position to advance policy objectives of the pesticide and biotechnology industries. In 2015, Dr. Fedoroff ... Nina Fedoroff: Mobilizing the authority of American science to back Monsanto
With legal and shareholder pressure mounting, Bayer AG on Thursday was preparing to launch an initiative to “regain public trust” after its acquisition last year of Monsanto Co. brought Bayer thousands of lawsuits filed by cancer victims and damning revelations of corporate deception surrounding years of health concerns about Monsanto’s glyphosate-based Roundup herbicides. The plan ... Bayer Internal Emails Says Seeks to “Regain Public Trust” Amid Monsanto Mess
This article was originally published in Environmental Health News. By Carey Gillam After three stunning courtroom losses in California, the legal battle over the safety of Monsanto’s top-selling Roundup herbicide is headed for the company’s hometown, where corporate officials can be forced to appear on the witness stand, and legal precedence shows a history of ... Trial in Monsanto’s Hometown Set for August After $2 Billion Verdict
After dramatic day-long closing arguments in which the plaintiffs’ attorney suggested $1 billion in punitive damages would be appropriate, jury deliberations were getting underway on Thursday in the trial pitting a married couple with cancer against Monsanto. Alva and Alberta Pilliod, each diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, were in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland, California, ... “Go Get ‘Em” – Jury Deliberations Starting in Roundup Cancer Trial
How badly did Monsanto want to discredit international cancer scientists who found the company’s glyphosate herbicide to be a probable human carcinogen and promote a counter message of glyphosate safety instead? Badly enough to allocate about $17 million for the mission, in just one year alone, according to evidence obtained by lawyers representing cancer victims ... Monsanto Exec Reveals $17 Million Budget For Anti-IARC, Pro-Glyphosate Efforts
(Transcript from today’s proceedings) Following Tuesdays’ jury finding that Roundup use caused plaintiff Edwin Hardeman’s cancer, the second phase of Hardeman V. Monsanto began this morning in California with a shift away from the scientific evidence and on to allegations that Monsanto has spent years suppressing information about the dangers of its glyphosate-based herbicides. While ... In Roundup Cancer Trial, Now the Gloves Come Off
Carey Gillam’s Roundup Trial Tracker blog: 2018-2021 Emails show Monsanto orchestrated GOP effort to intimidate cancer researchers by Lee Fang (The Intercept) (8.23.19) Emails Reveal Science Publisher Found Papers On Herbicide Safety Should Be Retracted Due to Monsanto Meddling (USRTK) (8.23.19) Revealed: how Monsanto’s ‘intelligence center’ targeted journalists and activists by Sam Levin (The Guardian) (8.8.19) Documents ... Reporting and Analysis: Monsanto Trials
By Stacy Malkan (updated May 17, 2019) DeWayne Johnson, a 46-year-old father dying of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, was the first person to face Monsanto in trial in 2018 over allegations the company hid evidence about the cancer-causing dangers of its Roundup weedkiller. Juries have since returned with three unanimous verdicts finding that glyphosate-based Roundup herbicides were ... Secret Documents Expose Monsanto’s War on Cancer Scientists
This article was originally published in Investor’s Business Daily . ByStacy Malkan and Carey Gillam “Food companies can’t figure out what Americans want to eat,” according to a June Wall Street Journal article. Food industry CEOs are “rushing for the exits,” WSJ reported in October, and the food lobby is “splintering,” Politico explained, as food ... The Future Of Food Needs Transparency And Integrity
Biology Fortified Inc., known as “Biofortified,” is a nonprofit organization that works closely with the agrichemical industry and its collaborators on public relations and lobbying campaigns to defend genetically engineered foods and pesticides, and attack industry critics. Board members and bloggers are key agrichemical industry allies Current and former board members and blog authors listed ... Biofortified Aids Chemical Industry PR & Lobbying Efforts
Academics Review, a nonprofit organization launched in 2012, claimed to be an independent group, but documents obtained by U.S. Right to Know revealed it was a front group, set up with the help of Monsanto executives and public relations operatives, to attack the organic industry and critics of GMOs — while appearing to be independent. ... Academics Review: The making of a Monsanto front group to attack the organic industry
Update 3/19: Judge Chhabria ordered an additional hearing for two of the plaintiffs’ witnesses. Follow Carey Gillam on Twitter for more updates about the legislation and we continue to post documents on our Monsanto Papers page. Court Transcripts from Daubert Hearings Friday March 9 transcript Thursday March 8 transcript Wednesday March 7 transcript Tuesday March ... Report from the Glyphosate Daubert Hearings
Food Evolution, a documentary produced by Scott Hamilton Kennedy and narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson, claims to look at all points of view in the debate over genetically modified foods (GMOs) debate. But the film quickly devolves into a hard sell for GMOs, based on specious claims and industry sources. See below for our June ... Food Evolution GMO film is ‘agribusiness propaganda’
Trevor Butterworth and his colleagues at Sense About Science/STATS have written for prominent news outlets and been quoted as independent experts on science and media. This fact sheet provides evidence that these groups and writers have long histories of using tobacco tactics to manufacture doubt about science and push for deregulation of products important to ... Trevor Butterworth, Sense About Science and STATS Spin Science for Industry
By Carey Gillam Three years ago this month Monsanto executives realized they had a big problem on their hands. It was September 2014 and the company’s top-selling chemical, the weed killer called glyphosate that is the foundation for Monsanto’s branded Roundup products, had been selected as one among a handful of pesticides to undergo scrutiny ... How Monsanto Manufactured ‘Outrage’ at IARC over Cancer Classification
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