The international journalist network, Lighthouse Reports, recently published an investigation into an industry-affiliated PR agency that systematically collects data on environmental and consumer protection activists. The findings are reminiscent of ‘Stasi methods’, whereby experts and scientists who criticize the use of pesticides and genetic engineering in agriculture are being systematically investigated and vilified. International media, such as Le Monde and The Guardian, have published articles about the scandal.
The PR agency, v-Fluence, was founded by a former Monsanto employee. According to its own information, the organisation carries out “reputation management” for large agrochemical and seed companies. This apparently also includes monitoring and discrediting critics of “modern agricultural methods”. The result: an exclusive database containing profiles of over 3,000 organisations and 500 individuals worldwide who have criticised the use of pesticides or genetically modified organisms.
The list includes human rights experts, environmentalists, journalists and scientists. The database also contains a dossier on Testbiotech. The v-Fluence newsletters show that Testbiotech activities are continuously monitored.
Not being able to have children, extramarital affairs, the value of private homes, traffic violations or party donations: v-Fluence purposefully collects all this personal data – some of which are fictitious. It is clearly being done to discredit the people and work of those who are targeted.
Government officials, executives from agrochemical and genetic engineering companies, authorities, such as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), journalists and industry-related scientists (including from Germany) all have access to the exclusive data. Testbiotech, on the other hand, has no access at all to the data collected about them.
This only serves to confirm experience from previous Testbiotech research: instead of facing up to scientific arguments, the industry is trying to undermine the credibility of institutions and individuals who are critical of the genetic engineering and pesticide industry. The pressure to generate more profit appears to be so great that they are willing not only to put protection goals (health, nature, the environment) on the back burner, but also to systematically fight against them. Consulting and PR firms, bloggers and influencers have long since discovered this field as a potential source of income. It is a business which comes at the expense of the common good.
Contact:
Christoph Then, info@testbiotech.org, Tel + 49 151 54638040
Further information:
The research of Lighthouse Reports
Report in The New Ledge (including insight into numerous documents)