PR Watch, Fourth Quarter 1999, Volume 6, No. 4

Flack Attack

The current campaign by agribusiness to win public
approval for genetically modified foods gives new meaning to the phrase,
"the carrot and the stick."

align="BOTTOM">The carrot in this campaign consists of promises
that biotechnology means better food, a cleaner environment, and prosperity
for struggling farmers. The stick consists of lawsuits and threats of
lawsuits against biotech's critics--now made easier with the "agricultural
product disparagement laws" that industry has lobbied into law in
more than a dozen states.

Force Feeding Genetically Engineered Foods

by Karen Charman

The biotech industry has chosen a slam dunk strategy
to gain public acceptance for its products: Slip unlabeled genetically
engineered food into the food supply and hope too many people don't notice
or object. Deal with those who do notice and object with an army of "experts"
that stand ready to refute any criticisms or critics of the technology.
If a lot of people start to object, by that time it should be too late
because much of the food supply will already be genetically engineered.

Monsanto and Burson-Marsteller Hire a Consumer Organizer

Executives at the Burson-Marsteller PR firm are
saying as little as possible about their pro-biotech PR campaign for the
Monsanto company. Jerry Morrison, a longtime consumer and labor organizer
who now runs a firm called the Strategic Consulting Group, says he didn't
even know Monsanto was the end client when B-M hired him in early November
to pitch local groups about the merits of genetically modified foods.

align="BOTTOM">Morrison has especially close ties with Citizen
Action of Illinois, the state's leading consumer organization.

The Professor Who Can Read Your Mind

by Karen Charman

Tom Hoban is a man with a mission: to convince people to embrace genetically engineered food. I had the opportunity to experience this firsthand at the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) annual conference in New York City in June 1998 while we were lining up for lunch. Seeing the press pass dangling around my neck, he made a beeline for me and proceeded to attempt to educate me about the wonders of food biotechnology.

That might not seem strange--plenty of people push biotech--but Hoban is not a public relations flack or salesman at a company peddling biotech food. He is a professor in the sociology department at North Carolina State University (NCSU). Hoban specializes in consumer behavior and the psychology of conflict, a position that gives him a veneer (but only a thin veneer) of objectivity.

"Biotechnology Will Feed the World" and Other Myths

biotechnology

by Karen Charman

Monsanto and other corporate proponents of genetic engineering are using a form of emotional blackmail to get people to accept this new technology. They claim biotechnology will be a savior and fix many of the very real and pressing problems that the Monsantos of the world created in the first place.

Saving the Planet With Pestilent Statistics

by Karen Charman

Dennis T. Avery, author of the tract "Saving
the Planet with Pesticides and Plastic," proudly describes himself
as a missionary. His mission: to protect and promote "high-yield
farming to save wildlife."

align="BOTTOM">Besides writing a nationally syndicated weekly
column for the financial newswire Bridge News, Avery is also the director
of the Hudson Institute's Center for Global Food Issues.