Just four corporations now control more than 60% of the global supply of seeds and pesticides. Public oversight of their activities is crucial for a safe and healthy food supply. Yet all these companies – Monsanto/Bayer, DowDuPont, Syngenta, BASF – have long histories of hiding the harm of their products. Since their records do not inspire trust, they rely on third-party allies to promote and defend their products.
The fact sheets below shine light on this hidden propaganda network: the front groups, academics, journalists and regulators who work behind the scenes with pesticide companies to promote and defend GMOs and pesticides.
Information we report here is based on the U.S. Right to Know investigation which has obtained tens of thousands of pages of internal corporate and regulatory documents since 2015. Our investigation inspired a counter campaign by the pesticide industry which has tried to discredit our work. According to Monsanto documents revealed in 2019, “USRTK’s investigation will impact the entire industry.”
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Academics Review: the making of a Monsanto front group
AgBioChatter: where corporations and academics plotted strategy on GMOs and pesticides
Alison Van Eenennaam: key outside spokesperson and lobbyist for the agrichemical and GMO industries
American Council on Science and Health is a corporate front group
Bayer’s Shady PR Firms: FleishmanHillard and Ketchum PR
Biofortified aids chemical industry PR & lobbying efforts
Center for Food Integrity food and agrichemical industry PR partners
Cornell Alliance for Science is a public relations campaign at Cornell to promote GMOs
Council for Biotechnology Information, GMO Answers, CropLife: pesticide industry PR initiatives
Drew Kershen: agrichemical industry front group ringleader
Food Evolution GMO Documentary is a misleading propaganda film, say many academics
Geoffrey Kabat: ties to tobacco and chemical industry groups
Glyphosate Spin Check: tracking claims about the most-widely used herbicide
GMO Answers is a crisis management PR tool for GMOs & pesticides
Hank Campbell’s maze of Monsanto-loving science blogs
Henry I. Miller dropped by Forbes for Monsanto ghostwriting scandal
Independent Women’s Forum: Koch-funded group defends pesticide, oil, tobacco industries
International Food Information Council (IFIC): how Big Food spins bad news
International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) is a food industry lobby group, documents show
Jay Byrne: meet the man behind the Monsanto PR machine
Jon Entine, Genetic Literacy Project: key messengers for Monsanto, Bayer and the chemical industry
Keith Kloor: how a science journalist worked with industry allies behind the scenes
Kevin Folta’s misleading and deceptive claims
Mark Lynas of Cornell Alliance for Science deceptive and inaccurate promotions for the agrichemical industry’s commercial agenda
Monsanto named these “industry partners” in its PR plan to confront glyphosate cancer ruling (2015)
Nina Federoff mobilized the authority of American science to back Monsanto
Pamela Ronald’s ties to chemical industry front groups
University of Saskatchewan: Peter Phillips and his secret “right to know” symposium at the University of Saskatchewan
SciBabe says eat your pesticides, but who is paying her?
Science Media Centre promotes corporate views of science
Sense About Science/STATS spin science for industry
University of Saskatchewan: Stuart Smyth’s agrichemical industry ties and funding
Tamar Haspel misleads readers of the Washington Post in her food columns
Val Giddings: former BIO VP is a top operative for the agrichemical industry
More fact sheets about key front groups, trade groups and PR writers
BIO: biotech industry trade group
International Life Sciences Institute
U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance
More resources from U.S. Right to Know
Academic studies co-authored by U.S. Right to Know
Monsanto Papers: Roundup/Glyphosate document archive
Document archives for dicamba
Roundup and Dicamba Trial Tracker: blog with frequent updates
Paraquat Papers: Documents from paraquat litigation
Paraquat Trial Tracker: blog updated regularly
Glyphosate fact sheet: Health Concerns About Most Widely Used Pesticide
Chlorpyrifos: common pesticide tied to brain damage in children
More herbicide fact sheets: Dicamba and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) – two older herbicides with increasing use due to newly approved GMO herbicide-tolerant crops
Fact sheet on EPA chemicals management: EPA exposed for hiding chemical risks, favoring corporate interests
Global news coverage of U.S. Right to Know findings
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