Kevin Folta

Genetic Literacy Project: PR front for Monsanto, Bayer and the chemical industry

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Genetic Literacy Project and its founder Jon Entine partner with corporations to promote and defend GMOs and pesticides. Bayer paid the Genetic Literacy Project $100,000 in fiscal year 2020-2021.

Tracking the pesticide industry propaganda network

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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.  

Gates-funded ‘Alliance for Science’ accused of peddling misinformation

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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

Glyphosate spin check: Tracking claims about the most widely used herbicide

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Amid global debate over the safety of glyphosate-based herbicides such as Monsanto’s Roundup, numerous claims have been made to defend the product’s safety. In the wake of two recent landmark jury rulings that found Roundup to be a substantial factor in causing non-Hodgkin lymphoma, we examined some of these claims and fact-checked them for accuracy. Glyphosate spin check: Tracking claims about the most widely used herbicide

Biofortified Aids Chemical Industry PR & Lobbying Efforts

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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

The misleading ways of Dr. Kevin Folta

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Kevin Folta, Ph.D., a professor in the Horticulture Sciences Department at University of Florida, has provided inaccurate information and engaged in misleading activities in his efforts to promote genetically engineered foods and pesticides. He is a senior contributing columnist to the Genetic Literacy Project, a chemical industry promotion group that receives funding from Bayer. He The misleading ways of Dr. Kevin Folta

AgBioChatter: Where Corporations, Academics Plotted Strategy on GMOs, Pesticides

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AgBioChatter is a private email listserver used by the agrichemical industry and its allies to coordinate messaging and lobbying activities. List members include pro-industry academics, senior agrichemical industry staff and public relations operatives. This internal Monsanto document identifies “Academics (AgBioChatter)” as a Tier 2 “industry partner” in Monsanto’s public relations plan to discredit the World AgBioChatter: Where Corporations, Academics Plotted Strategy on GMOs, Pesticides

Pamela Ronald’s Ties to Chemical Industry Front Groups

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Founded, led UC Davis group that elevated industry PR efforts Dr. Ronald was the founding director of the World Food Center’s Institute for Food and Agricultural Literacy (IFAL), a group launched in 2014 at UC Davis to train faculty and students to promote genetically engineered foods, crops and pesticides. The group does not fully disclose Pamela Ronald’s Ties to Chemical Industry Front Groups

Julie Kelly cooks up propaganda for the pesticide industry

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Julie Kelly is a food writer and cooking instructor who emerged in 2015 as a fierce advocate for the agrichemical industry, with articles defending pesticides, arguing against GMO labeling and attacking the organic food industry. Her work has appeared in the National Review, The Hill, Huffington Post, the Wall Street Journal and Forbes. An award-winning Julie Kelly cooks up propaganda for the pesticide industry

Pro-GMO Activist Frets That GMOs May “soon go the way of DDT”

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The following email is from Mischa Popoff, a pro-GMO, anti-organic activist at the Heartland Institute, which is notorious for its defense of tobacco and denial of climate change. Perhaps the most interesting part of this email is the last line, where Popoff worries that GMOs may “soon go the way of DDT.” It’s a telling and Pro-GMO Activist Frets That GMOs May “soon go the way of DDT”

Our Investigation of Big Food and its Front Groups

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Update: This blog has been updated to include a running list of news stories and commentary generated by our ongoing investigation. U.S. Right to Know is conducting an investigation into the collusion between Big Food, its front groups, and university faculty and staff to deliver industry PR to the public.That investigation is ongoing. Thus far, Our Investigation of Big Food and its Front Groups

SciBabe says eat your pesticides. But who is paying her?

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Blogging under the name SciBabe, Yvette d’Entremont defends toxic chemicals in food products and promotes pesticides as safe. She has received funding and honoraria from a variety of companies and industry groups. In 2017, the artificial sweetener company SPLENDA hired SciBabe to “debunk junk science” in defense of their product.SciBabe has been a featured speaker SciBabe says eat your pesticides. But who is paying her?

How Tamar Haspel Misleads Readers of the Washington Post

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Tamar Haspel is a freelance journalist who has been writing monthly food columns for the Washington Post since October 2013. Her columns frequently promote and defend pesticide industry products, while she also receives payments to speak at industry-aligned events, and sometimes from industry groups. This practice of journalists receiving payments from industry groups, known as How Tamar Haspel Misleads Readers of the Washington Post

Keith Kloor: How a science journalist worked behind the scenes with industry allies

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Keith Kloor is a freelance journalist and an adjunct journalism faculty member at New York University who has written for Nature, Science Insider, Slateand dozens of articles for Discover Magazinepromoting genetically engineered foods and attacking critics of the pesticide industry, while also assisting industry public relations efforts behind the scenes. Emails obtained by U.S. Right Keith Kloor: How a science journalist worked behind the scenes with industry allies

Why Forbes deleted Kavin Senapathy’s articles

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Kavin Senapathy emerged as a writer in 2015 with articles promoting GMOs, defending pesticides and attacking critics of the agrichemical industry, many of them published in Forbes. She does not disclose her funding sources. In 2017, Forbes deleted seven articles Senapathy co-authored with Henry I. Miller, a former Hoover Institution fellow, following revelations in the Why Forbes deleted Kavin Senapathy’s articles

Val Giddings: Top Operative for the Agrichemical Industry

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Val Giddings, PhD, is a key player in agrichemical industry efforts to oppose transparency and safety regulations for genetically engineered foods and pesticides. Emails obtained by U.S. Right to Know and posted in the UCSF Chemical Industry Documents Library indicate that Dr. Giddings helped set up a corporate front group and played a key behind-the-scenes Val Giddings: Top Operative for the Agrichemical Industry

An Open Letter to Professor Kevin Folta on FOIA Requests

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Dear Professor Folta: Yesterday there was some news coverage and commentary about our use of the state Freedom of Information Acts to obtain the correspondence of professors who wrote for the agrichemical industry’s PR website, GMO Answers. We’re glad to have a public conversation about this topic with the professors involved. We believe that transparency An Open Letter to Professor Kevin Folta on FOIA Requests

Journalists Failed to Disclose Sources’ Funding from Monsanto: A Short Report

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Following a Columbia Journalism Review article on whether science journalists should accept money from corporate interests, and whether there is adequate disclosure of sources’ corporate ties and conflicts of interest, U.S. Right to Know reviewed recent articles to assess how often journalists and columnists quote academic sources without stating that they are funded by the Journalists Failed to Disclose Sources’ Funding from Monsanto: A Short Report

A Short Report on Journalists Mentioned in our FOIA Requests

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Also see: Buckraking on the Food Beat: When is it a conflict of interest? Washington Post Food Columnist Goes to Bat for Monsanto On September 23rd, Washington Post food columnist Tamar Haspel admitted to receiving “plenty” of money from pro-agrichemical industry sources. Following her admission, I thought it might be useful to report on journalists A Short Report on Journalists Mentioned in our FOIA Requests

Following an Email Trail: How a Public University Professor Collaborated on a Corporate PR Campaign

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By Carey Gillam Former University of Illinois food science professor Bruce Chassy is known for his academic gravitas. Now retired nearly four years, Chassy still writes and speaks often about food safety issues, identifying himself with the full weight of the decades of experience earned at the public university and as a researcher at the Following an Email Trail: How a Public University Professor Collaborated on a Corporate PR Campaign

Fearful Food Industry Jeopardizing Public’s Right to Information

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I just don’t get it. Over the more than 20 years I have worked as a business journalist, I’ve always been motivated by a simple premise: Knowledge is power, and that power belongs with the public. The spread of information that people can use to make decisions – what to buy, what to eat, where Fearful Food Industry Jeopardizing Public’s Right to Information