The world according to Monsanto : pollution, corruption, and

168 the world according to monsanto“complicated subject” that only scientists seemed able to master. To guaranteeits domination, the company understood that it had to control the scientistswho discussed the subject and to make sure that they spoke in the rightplaces, such as international forums sponsored by UN organizations andrenowned journals and universities.Evidence is provided by an internal Monsanto document marked “companyconfidential” that arrived mysteriously (clearly from a whistle-blower)at the office of GeneWatch, a British association that keeps a close watch onGMO issues. 30 This ten-page “Monthly Summary,” made public on September6, 2000, details the activities of Monsanto’s Regulatory Affairs andScientific Outreach team during the months of May and June 2000. “Theleaked report shows how Monsanto are trying to manipulate the regulationof GM foods across the globe to favour their interests,” said Dr. Sue Mayer,GeneWatch UK’s director, in a press release. “It seems they are trying to buyinfluence with key individuals, stack committees with experts who supportthem, and subvert the scientific agenda around the world.”The document congratulates the team for having been “instrumental inassuring that key internationally recognized scientific experts were nominatedto the FAO/WHO expert consultation on food safety which was heldin Geneva this past month. The consultation and final report were very supportiveof plant biotechnology, including support for the critical role of substantialequivalence in food safety assessments. . . . Information on thebenefits and safety of plant biotechnology was provided to key medical expertsand students at Harvard. . . . An editorial was drafted by Dr. JohnThomas (Emeritus Professor of U. of Texas Medical School in San Antonio)to place in a medical journal as the first in a planned series of outreach effortsto physicians. ...A meeting was held with Prof. David Khayat, an internationallywell known cancer specialist, to collaborate on an articledemonstrating the absence of links between GM food and cancers. . . .Monsanto representatives were successful at the recent Codex Food LabelingCommittee meeting in maintaining two labeling options for further considerationby the committee.” There is much more of the same.Among the scientists who generously cooperated with the Monsantoteam’s initiatives, the report also refers to Domingo Chamorro from Spain,Gérard Pascal and Claudine Junien from France, and Nobel Prize winnerJean Daucet from France, who participated in the Forum des Biotechnologieslaunched by the team.