Industry's ABC and CropGen run by same PR flaks

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GMW: Industry's ABC and CropGen run by same PR flaks

" GM WATCH " <info

Sat, 2 Oct 2004 18:49:27 +0100

 

 

Industry's ABC and CropGen run by same PR flaks

http://www.gmwatch.org

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The information below about the dual role now being played by Lexington

Communications was passed to us by SpinWatch: http://www.spinwatch.org

 

For details of SpinWatch's SPIN & CORPORATE POWER CONFERENCE at

Strathclyde University, November 18th & 19th 2004:

http://www.strath.ac.uk/Departments/Geography/html/news%20items/Nov_confefence.h\

tm

 

http://www.strathac.uk/Departments/Geography/

Or email davidmiller

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Biotech industry's ABC and CropGen run by same PR flaks

 

" At the heart of CropGen is a panel of scientists " , according to the

Mission statement on CropGen's website. CropGen defines its mission as a

" consumer and media information initiative " and although it admits to

being " ultimately funded " by " the crop biotechnology industry " , it

claims it " operates independently " of the industry.

 

This gives it a different profile from the Agricultural Biotechnology

Council (ABC), a lobby group which was openly founded by Monsanto along

with Bayer CropScience, BASF, Dow Agrosciences, Dupont and Syngenta.

 

Initially, the ABC was represented by Weber Shandwick, one of the

world's largest PR companies. However, in November 2002 it changed to

Lexington Communications, run by Mike Craven, a former aide to the UK's

Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott.

 

Prior to Lexington, Craven was the Labour Party's chief media

spokesperson and before that a lobbyist with Market Access. While

Craven was

Managing Director of Market Access it faced accusations of a 'massive

disinformation campaign' in lobbying for the European 'patents on life'

directive, which was approved despite strong public opposition.

 

When CropGen was set up, the BBC quoted a public relations source as

saying that the initiative came from the biotech companies who approached

the panel members. The PR firm was Countrywide Porter Novelli which

was, until the end of last year, responsible for the day to day

running of

CropGen.

 

Now if you contact CropGen the call goes through not to Porter Novelli

but to the ABC's PR firm Lexington Communications. If you write to

CropGen, then you should send your letter to Lexington's London office,

although don't forget to address it to Cropgen's Chairman, Vivian Moses.

 

In other words, both ABC and CropGen are run on a day to day basis by

Lexington. And what's the chance that any letter yous end to either will

go across the desk of Bernard Marantelli, a PR operative from Monsanto,

hired by Lexington to run its pro-GM PR campaign.

 

According to CropGen's Chairman Prof Vivian Moses, although the 'public

should be allowed to make their own informed choice about GM foods',

'it is essential that the biotechnology industry takes the lead in

helping educate people on this issue.'

 

It certainly is seeking to do so.

 

Below is a LOBBYWATCH profile of Bernard Marantelli.

 

For more on:

CropGen

http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=33

Lexington's boss Mike Craven

http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=139

Lexington

http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=137

ABC

http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=138

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Bernard Marantelli - a LOBBYWATCH profile

http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=205

 

Bernard Marantelli currently works for the London-based PR company

Lexington Communications, directed by Mike Craven, having been

recruited as

a consultant in February 2003. He has helped Lexington with its work

for the the UK biotechnology-industry lobby group, the Agricultural

Biotechnology Council (ABC), particularly during the UK's Public

Debate on

GM. The ABC was founded in 2002 by Monsanto along with Bayer

CropScience, BASF, Dow Agrosciences, Dupont and Syngenta.

 

Prior to Lexington Marantelli worked on PR for Monsanto. Recruited in

1998, his first role was to coordinate 'scientific communication' for

Monsanto's Government and Public Affairs office in London. In 2000 he was

transferred to the Scientific Affairs team in Monsanto's European

headquarters in Brussels where his responsibilities are said to have

included 'issues management' and 'scientific communication' for the

Europe-Africa region.

 

His exact role during the crisis over GM-contaminated food aid in

southern Africa is not known. In late October 2002, Monsanto's electronic

newsletter, 'The Biotech Advantage,' carried the headline 'Academics Say

Africans Going Hungry Because of Activist Scare Tactics.' The activists

in question turned out to be the staff of a Catholic theological centre

and a Zambian agricultural college. Their 'academic' attackers, by

contrast, included AgBioWorld's founders, CS Prakash and Greg Conko, as

well as AgBioWorld supporter Andrew Apel who called for the bombing of

Zambia with Gm grain.

 

Around this time Friends of the Earth in the UK received an

interrogative e-mail from one 'Max Russell-Bennett,' ostensibly a

private citizen.

The e-mail had an AgBioWorld press release attached which implied that

thousands had died in the Indian state of Orissa as a result of

resistance to GM food aid. It urged 'activists' not to make the same

mistake

in southern Africa. In reality, all the deaths in Orissa had been caused

by a cyclone. A check on the IP address rof the 'Max Russell-Bennett'

e-mail revealed that it had originated with Monsanto Belgium.

 

Curiously every letter in the name Bernard Marantelli can be found in

'Max Russell-Bennett' except for the final letter of the forename ('D')

and surname ('I'). It would be unfair to suggest that this provides a

clue to Max Russell-Bennett's real ID, but suspicion of those who work

for Monsanto is inevitable in the light of the evidence that this is a

company whose PR representatives engage in covert PR tactics .

http://www.gene-watch.org/genewatch/articles/16-2matthews.html