Robert Paarlberg
USA
Academic, author, and former Monsanto advisor who lobbies for GM food and crops, and attacks organic food and farming. Claims activists in rich countries are denying African farmers access to productive technologies (read: GM) in spite of the fact that there is no evidence that GM crops have increased yields or resistance to drought. Majorly misrepresented the 2002 food crisis in Zambia, claiming the government's refusal to accept GM food that had not been through Zambia's biosafety protocols led to famine. Six years later, in 2008 Paarlberg finally admitted this was not true. Curating with Mark Lynas a special collection for the journal GM Crops & Food on the topic GMO Narratives and Misinformation.
Profiles: Powerbase
Articles: The Dubious Virtue of Apostasy, Africa's Biotechnology Battle
Don’t Panic, Go Organic: Be not troubled by Robert Paarlberg's scaremongering
What's the difference between Fox News and Oxford University Press?
Does Africa need GM for development?
See also: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Monsanto, GM Crops & Food.
Pierre Pagesse
France
Former President of seed company Limagrain and managing director of its biotech research arm, Biogemma. In 2004 he emerged as leader of a surprising group of radical rural campaigners claiming to be in favour of open-field GM experiments.
Profiles: Powerbase
See also: Biogemma, Committee of Agricultural Organisations in the European Union, Limagrain
George Paterson
UK
Former director of the Scottish arm of the Food Standards Agency who was allegedly involved in fast-tracking approval of GM foods for Monsanto in his role as a director at Canadian regulator Health Canada.
Profiles: Powerbase
See also: Food Standards Agency
Owen Paterson UK
Disgraced politician and former environment minister who promoted GMOs, attacked environmentalism, and engaged in extreme climate scepticism. Refused repeated requests to disclose who was funding his pro-GMO lobbying trips. Member of the industry-funded All-Party Parliamentary Group on Science and Technology in Agriculture. Brother-in-law of Matt Ridley, who was the only advisor to Paterson's UK2020 think tank. Spoke at a closed doors EuropaBio event and at the (Cornell) Alliance for Science. Helped launch the Ecomodernist Manifesto at a UK 2020 event with Mark Lynas, Ted Nordhaus, Michael Shellenberger, and Matt Ridley.
Articles: Disgraced MP at centre of UK's lobbying scandal was close ally of GMO lobby
Partners in crime: Owen Paterson and Matt Ridley. Or why you can’t keep a bad man down
Owen Paterson: the minister for GM hype
US government, Poison PR firms saw Brexit as chance to push GMOs and pesticide-laden products into UK
See also: Matt Ridley, UK 2020, All-Party Parliamentary Group on Science and Technology in Agriculture, Mark Lynas, Cornell Alliance for Science, Sarah Evanega, EuropaBio, Syngenta, Rothamsted Research, ISAAA, Breakthrough Institute, Ted Nordhaus, Michael Shellenberger, Patrick Moore
Daniel Pearsall UK
The director of Front Foot Communications, which provides the "secratariat" for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Science and Technology in Agriculture (APPGSTA), the industry backed parliamentary lobby for the introduction of GM crop cultivation to the UK and against restrictions on pesticides. Pearsall's firm is paid by the GM industry lobby group the Agricultural Biotechnology Council (ABC), the pesticide industry lobby group CropLife UK, and the NFU, among others. Pearsall was previously the spokesman for the GM crop industry body SCIMAC - Supply Chain Initiative on Modified Agricultural Crops, whose members included the Agricultural Biotechnology Council (ABC), the Crop Protection Association - the forerunner of CropLife UK, and the NFU. Pearsall is also the coordinator for Science for Sustainable Agriculture, a lobby group which seems to have considerable overlap with APPGSTA, with members such as Matt Ridley, Jeff Rooker and Julian Sturdy among its Advisory Group.
Profiles: LinkedIn
Links to: All-Party Parliamentary Group on Science and Technology in Agriculture, Science for Sustainable Agriculture, Owen Paterson, Matt Ridley, John Krebs, George Freeman, Julian Sturdy, Dick Taverne, Jeff Rooker, NFU, ABC, CropLife UK
PG Economics
UK
Consultancy publishing regular reports, commissioned by the biotech industry, claiming extraordinary successes with GM crops.
Profiles: Powerbase
Article: GMOs cut greenhouse gas emissions, says new report
See also: AgBioForum, Graham Brookes, Peter Barfoot, ISAAA
John Pickett
UK
Fellow of the Royal Society and an expert in plant chemistry, who worked at Rothamsted Research, then Cardiff University. Made unsubstantiated claims about Arpad Pusztai's research.
Profiles: Powerbase
Articles: ‘Science one, whining greenies nil’, Star Chamber
See also: Rothamsted Research, Royal Society
Nigel Poole UK
Was a member of the UK's Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) until asked to leave because of his employment by GM firm Zeneca Crop Science, which went on to become part of Syngenta. Poole was Zeneca's External and Regulatory Affairs Manager at the same time that he was serving as a UK regulator and Zeneca was commercialising GM products. Poole is a former Chair of the Governing Board of ICRISAT.
Articles: Biotech experts to lose GM role
Scientists get the pip over GM tomatoes
Links to: Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE), Zeneca, Syngenta, Jim Dunwell, Peter Doyle, Ed Dart
Guy Poppy
UK
Professor of ecology at Southampton University and a founder member of industry-funded lobby group CropGen. Advises UK and EU government bodies on the risks of GM crops and is Chief Scientific Adviser to the Food Standards Agency.
Profiles: Powerbase
See also: Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, CropGen, Food Standards Agency
Ingo Potrykus
Switzerland
Developer of GM Golden Rice, which for over 20 years has been touted as having the power to save the people of the developing world from vitamin A deficiency.
See also: Gerard Barry, Golden Rice Network
Doug Powell
Canada
Former professor in the department of plant agriculture at the University of Guelph, Canada, known for aggressive attacks on scientists who raise concerns about GM. Lead researcher for the notorious "wormy corn" paper. In 2002 Powell was a visiting researcher to the Life Sciences Network (LSN) in New Zealand, which lobbied aggressively for GM food and crops.
Profiles: Powerbase
Articles:
See also: Shane Morris, Food Safety Network, Life Sciences Network
CS Prakash
USA
Runs the pro-GM AgBioWorld website, Twitter account, and previously the AgBioView listserv. Key player in attacks on the research of Ignacio Chapela and Gilles-Éric Séralini. Editor in chief of GM Crops & Food. Advisor to American Council on Science and Health.
Profiles: Powerbase
Articles: Smelling a Corporate Rat
Corporate Phantoms
Immoral Maize
See also: AgBioView, AgBioWorld, Mary Murphy, Andura Smetacek, Jay Byrne, Tony Trewavas, Greg Conko, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Andrew Apel, GM Crops & Food, USAID, American Council on Science and Health
Program for Biosafety Systems (PBS)
USA
PBS is funded by USAID and run by a consortium of groups, principally IFPRI (International Food Policy Research Institute). It targets countries in Africa and Asia to help with the "responsible development and safe use of agricultural biotechnology". Run by former Monsanto director, Judy Chambers, and before that Joel Cohen. In 2024, it emerged that USAID had channelled over $400,000 to v-Fluence, a PR agency run by former Monsanto director Jay Byrne, via the Program for Biosafety Systems. This was for services including "enhanced monitoring" of critics of "modern agriculture approaches" (i.e. GMOs and pesticides). As part of "enhanced monitoring", the private social network Bonus Eventus was established as a means of sharing the resulting 3,000 plus derogatory profiles of "critics", as well as other agrochemical industry propaganda developed by v-Fluence with the 1,000 or so invite-only members of the network, which among others included policy makers and regulators from around the world.
Article: USAID in Africa: For the American Corporations
Briefing: Making the World Hungry for GM crops
See also: USAID, Agricultural Biotechnology Support Program (ABSP), Judy Chambers, CABIO, Andrew Natsios, Joel Cohen, CS Prakash, v-Fluence, Jay Byrne, Bonus Eventus
Progress Educational Trust
UK
Lobby group that opposes restrictions on genetic technologies affecting human fertility. Has strong links with the LM network and the pharmaceutical industry.
Profiles: Powerbase
Articles: Invasion of the Entryists
See also: Genetic Interest Group, Living Marxism, LM group, Juliet Tizzard
Project 21
USA
An initiative of the National Center for Public Policy Research, a free market foundation with an anti-environmental agenda, which lobbies for the uptake of GM crops in developing countries. Black journalists Glen Ford and Peter Gamble describe it is a "Black front group" and a "network and nursery for aspiring right-wing operatives".
Profiles: Powerbase
See also: Niger Innis, Congress of Racial Equality, National Center for Public Policy Research
PRRI – Public Research and Regulation Initiative
Netherlands
Lobby group for pro-GM researchers in public institutions. Has strong industry connections.
Profiles: Powerbase
Report: How Public are the Public Research Lobbyists of PRRI?
See also: Gerard Barry, Andrew Bennett, Phil Dale, Piet van der Meer, CS Prakash, Jennifer Thomson, Roger Beachy