The world according to Monsanto : pollution, corruption, and

198 the world according to monsantonology is a matter of opinions. Monsanto believes you should hear all ofthem.” Then came the addresses and phone numbers of the company’s principalopponents, such as Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace. In France,the first ad adopted a condescending tone: “69 percent of the French aresuspicious of biotechnology, 63 percent say they don’t know what it is. Fortunately,91 percent know how to read.” Other messages adopted the messianicvision of Robert Shapiro, with his trademark moralizing tone: “As westand on the edge of a new millennium, we dream of a tomorrow withouthunger. To achieve that dream, we must welcome the science that promiseshope. Biotechnology is one of tomorrow’s tools today. Slowing its acceptanceis a luxury our hungry world cannot afford.” In an interview with themagazine Chemistry and Industry, Jonathan Ramsay, a Monsanto executive,summed up well the spirit of the campaign, which many considered very arrogant:“We will have succeeded if biotechnology becomes less the subjectof Luddite superstition and more the subject of serious and informed publicdebate.” 38The campaign in Great Britain flopped immediately thanks to the interventionof the Prince of Wales, a champion of organic farming. As soon asthe campaign was launched, he published an article in the Daily Telegraphtitled “The Seeds of Disaster”: “I have always believed that agricultureshould proceed in harmony with nature, recognising that there are naturallimits to our ambitions. ...We simply do not know the long-term consequencesfor human health and the wider environment of releasing plantsbred in this way. We are assured that these new plants are vigorously testedand regulated, but the evaluation procedure seems to presume that unless aGM crop can be shown to be unsafe, there is no reason to stop its use. ...Ipersonally have no wish to eat anything produced by genetic modification,nor do I knowingly offer this sort of produce to my family or guests.” 39 Theprince’s words were reported in all British newspapers, forcing Monsanto toacknowledge its mistakes, proof that the matter was serious. “We barged in,”Toby Moffett, vice president for international government affairs, admitted,“like someone barging in on someone’s private party. We weren’t Europeanenough.” 40It was in this context that the Arpad Pusztai affair exploded. To crownMonsanto’s bad luck, the day after the broadcast of the Pusztai interview inAugust, the British Advertising Standards Authority received four complaintsagainst Monsanto for deceptive advertising: in one of the campaign ads, the