"A consortium of the nation's biggest agribusinesses Monday reported pumping $150,000 in last-minute contributions into a campaign to defeat a Mendocino County initiative that would ban genetically engineered farm products," the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports. CropLife America [3] -- a Washington, D.C., group representing global agrichemical and biotech companies [4], including Monsanto, Syngenta, and DuPont -- has now donated $500,000 over a two-month period to fight Measure H. The anti-Measure H campaign has spent the money on opinion polling, intensive radio advertising, PR consultants, legal advise and direct mail appeals to all voters. Self-described corporate activist Ross Irvine argues on ePublicRelations [5] that even though a pro-biotech trade group can outspend supporters of Measure H by a more than 6-to-1 ratio, they still are at a disadvantage. "While leaders of the anti-biotech forces in Mendocino County can be identified, activists do not insist on 'designated spokesmen' as being primary or sole sources of information. As result, there are numerous anti-biotech 'voices' to be heard and quoted in the media," Irvine writes. "Not only are there more spokesmen, they are autonomous and independent. They don't have to funnel questions to a centralized, designated spokesman. As a result, they can respond more quickly and more efficiently to media and other inquiries." The biotech industry representatives fears that Measure H if it passes could become a precedent, triggering similiar efforts across the nation.