Monday, January 7, 2013

Biotech's 10 Biggest PR Disasters of 2012

     GM Watch is an independent organization that seeks to counter the enormous corporate political power and propaganda of the biotech industry and its supporters.  This site is often under cyber attack and legal threats from multinational corporations.  Fortunately, 2012 was the year the lights came up on the biotech industry! Its claims, its tactics and its products all came under scrutiny and some of its biggest PR fairy tales bit the dust. Here are some prime examples:
1. Fleeing Europe-- "the GM and chemicals giant BASF was pulling its GM division out of Europe because it was facing opposition "from the majority of consumers, farmers and politicians."
2. Meltdown in India--turns out even the hand-picked farmers in Monsanto's "Model Village" demanded a ban on Bt cotton.  "The shocked Indian MPs issued a unanimous report saying GM crops were not the right way forward for India," and their Supreme Court recommended a 10 year moratorium on GM crops.
3. Opposition Grows in the U.S.--Proposition 37 lost "but it took all kinds of lies, dirty tricks and a cool $45 million to kill off the initiative, and still 48.6 percent of voters supported it. Worse still for the industry, the controversy it stirred up helped spread GMO awareness nationwide."

Read more here (link works now 1/8/13)

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