Industry PR counteroffensive
This is also from the GM Watch news archive:
The success of the GM-critical film, The Future of Food, has galvanised the biotech industry's PR machine into subsequently giving us:
* America's Heartland - the pending PBS TV series funded by the American Farm Bureau and Monsanto;
* Voices from Africa - a video supposedly produced by the African-American civil-rights (turned-corporate-rights) group CORE but, in fact, funded by its "corporate partner" - Monsanto - and directed and scripted by a film-maker who has worked on other Monsanto projects
And now: The Story of Bt Cotton in India.
This new documentary comes courtesy of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA). ISAAA's funders include Monsanto and just about every other major GM corporation.
ISAAA's multi-million dollar budget is matched by high-profile board members, past and present, such as Monsanto's Robert Fraley, Wally Beversdorf of Syngenta, and Gabrielle Persley, Executive Director of AusBiotech Alliance and advisor to the World Bank.http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=66&page=IThe article below informs us how, according to the new film, "Rapid strides made by India in cotton production in the last three years are nothing short of a dream run for any agrarian economy". The film implies that this is no accident as this period "also coincides with the adoption of Bt cotton".
Curious then that just last week the Indian government admitted that Bt cotton had failed in parts of India, and asked state governments in all cotton growing regions to institute enquiries.http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6008In the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, 3 types of Mahyco-Monsanto Bt cotton seeds have actually been banned because their performance has been so bad. In Madhya Pradesh, the Governor has asked the state government to look into the causes of the failure of Bt cotton in large parts of the State and has called for compensation for farmers. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6008
Dogged by such adverse publicity, the industry is conducting an info-war against the "misconceptions and disinformation" which "continue to constrict the growth potential of this technology".
This documentary, which "clearly captures the way in which adoption of technology has transformed the outlook for growers", will be "translated into seven Indian languages for the benefit of those interested and shown widely in the cotton-growing belt across the country."
It thus forms part of an aggressive and deceptive promotion campaign for Bt cotton which has included everything from Bollywood stars to dancing girls, and which has even attracted the critical notice of India's National Commission on Farmers (NCF), which is headed by a long-time GM promoter - MS Swaminathan.http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5967For the details of this PR campaign see the report - THE MARKETING OF BT COTTON IN INDIA: AGGRESSIVE, UNSCRUPULOUS AND FALSEhttp://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5741
The success of the GM-critical film, The Future of Food, has galvanised the biotech industry's PR machine into subsequently giving us:
* America's Heartland - the pending PBS TV series funded by the American Farm Bureau and Monsanto;
* Voices from Africa - a video supposedly produced by the African-American civil-rights (turned-corporate-rights) group CORE but, in fact, funded by its "corporate partner" - Monsanto - and directed and scripted by a film-maker who has worked on other Monsanto projects
And now: The Story of Bt Cotton in India.
This new documentary comes courtesy of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA). ISAAA's funders include Monsanto and just about every other major GM corporation.
ISAAA's multi-million dollar budget is matched by high-profile board members, past and present, such as Monsanto's Robert Fraley, Wally Beversdorf of Syngenta, and Gabrielle Persley, Executive Director of AusBiotech Alliance and advisor to the World Bank.http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=66&page=IThe article below informs us how, according to the new film, "Rapid strides made by India in cotton production in the last three years are nothing short of a dream run for any agrarian economy". The film implies that this is no accident as this period "also coincides with the adoption of Bt cotton".
Curious then that just last week the Indian government admitted that Bt cotton had failed in parts of India, and asked state governments in all cotton growing regions to institute enquiries.http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6008In the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, 3 types of Mahyco-Monsanto Bt cotton seeds have actually been banned because their performance has been so bad. In Madhya Pradesh, the Governor has asked the state government to look into the causes of the failure of Bt cotton in large parts of the State and has called for compensation for farmers. http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6008
Dogged by such adverse publicity, the industry is conducting an info-war against the "misconceptions and disinformation" which "continue to constrict the growth potential of this technology".
This documentary, which "clearly captures the way in which adoption of technology has transformed the outlook for growers", will be "translated into seven Indian languages for the benefit of those interested and shown widely in the cotton-growing belt across the country."
It thus forms part of an aggressive and deceptive promotion campaign for Bt cotton which has included everything from Bollywood stars to dancing girls, and which has even attracted the critical notice of India's National Commission on Farmers (NCF), which is headed by a long-time GM promoter - MS Swaminathan.http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5967For the details of this PR campaign see the report - THE MARKETING OF BT COTTON IN INDIA: AGGRESSIVE, UNSCRUPULOUS AND FALSEhttp://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5741
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