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.
Since 2015, U.S. Right to Know has uncovered many internal corporate and government documents that shine light on this hidden propaganda network: the front groups, academics, journalists and regulators who work with pesticide companies on product defense campaigns for GMOs and pesticides.
Monsanto was so threatened by U.S. Right to Know that they launched a PR attack on our group and our colleague Carey Gillam, according to Monsanto documents revealed in 2019. “USRTK’s investigation will impact the entire industry,” according to the documents that describe plans to deploy 11 Monsanto employees, two PR firms and an academic group in the effort to discredit the right to know investigation.
The fact sheets in this post document our findings and we update them regularly.
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
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 promotes 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
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
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
Roundup and Dicamba Trial Tracker blog updated regularly
Glyphosate fact sheet: Health Concerns About Most Widely Used Pesticide
Global news coverage of U.S. Right to Know findings
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