Studie "The GMO-emperor has no clothes" (engl.) - Nabu

in government posts, or have become official
advisors to governments. The regulated are
becoming the regulators with predictable
results—policies to safeguard the public are being
eliminated or ignored. The reports provide
numerous illustrations of this revolving door
influence.
For example, in Argentina, representatives
from biotechnology corporations Monsanto,
Syngenta, Bayer, Dow, and Pioneer sit on a
prominent national panel that directly advises the
government agency that decides about the release
applications that these same companies submit.
In the U.S., it is now standard practice for
biotechnology firms to employ former members
of Congress and Congressional and White
House staff to give the industry an inside track.
There are many examples of former employees
from biotechnology corporations now working
in government—a senior advisor to the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) was a former
lobbyist for Monsanto, the head of the main
research arm for U.S. government agricultural
research formerly worked for Danforth Plant
Science Center (funded by Monsanto), and a
former Monsanto employee is on the government
committee tasked with legalizing GM salmon.
Another main reason why many governments
are opening the doors to GMOs is because of the
far-reaching marketing and advertising influence
of the industry.
Just as the weavers in the Emperor tale repeatedly
assured everyone that they were indeed weaving
beautiful garments, biotechnology corporations
repeat stories of success over and over again until
the message becomes the truth instead of actual
experiences and outcomes.
The recent “America’s Farmers Grow America”
advertising campaign in the U.S. depicts
Monsanto as being a friend to farmers and
helping to grow the U.S. economy. “We are going
to help tell their story. And it’s a great story to
tell,” Monsanto says. But the hundreds of farmers
being sued by Monsanto for alleged patent
infringement and violation of technology user
agreements might have a different story to tell.
In India, Monsanto’s advertising slogan is: “India
delights as cotton farmers’ lives transform for the
better.” But the widows of the more than 250,000
farmer suicides in India related to GM cotton
crop failures are certainly not delighting.
Marketing influences also include more subtle
methods that include dispatching industry
representatives to speak at everything from book
fairs to private investor gatherings to a host of
conferences for “future leaders,” “innovators
of tomorrow.” An example from Australia
details marketing that goes far beyond subtle. In
response to a moratoria on the sale of GM seed
by some state governments, the industry quickly
countered and developed a touring workshop
geared for corporate executives entitled, “How to
Beat Activists at Their Own Game.” At one of
the workshops, a speaker advised participants to
“Take the moral high ground. …Tell politicians
that when they support biotechnology they
are demonstrating much needed moral and
political leadership. Conversely, you may want
to point out the immorality of those who oppose
biotechnology.”
Contamination/Illegal Plantings
As many of country reports note, GM seeds and
crops frequently enter into regions via illegal
plantings. In many instances, the biotechnology
industry has simply ignored laws that prohibit
GMOs, or GM seeds and plants are distributed to
farmers via underground markets. Contamination
is another vehicle for spreading GMOs. The
similar experience in many countries is that once
GMOs are found in a country—whether via
contamination or illegal plantings—governments
often use this to justify legalizing GM seeds and
crops.
In the report on India, Dr. Vandana Shiva sums
up the experience of India that is repeated
in country after country. “Either Monsanto
blatantly violates the laws, or it has laws changed
through its influence. It changes policies to
privatise the seed and make farmers dependent
on its seed monopoly. It corrupts governments
and policymakers. It corrupts knowledge and
science. It corrupts biodiversity through genetic
contamination and genetic pollution.”
Crop Failures/Effects on Farmers
Another common refrain throughout the reports
is that governments and industry promise farmers
higher profits if they convert to GM seeds and
crops, yet farmers are left on their own when
failures come.
This is the situation of Bt cotton’s introduction
in South Africa’s Makhatini Flats. After five years,
the majority of farmers growing Bt cotton are in
debt and the number of farmers still growing the
GM cotton has reduced by 80 percent.
Similarly, Conalgodón, the Colombian federation
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