Academics Review
USA
Industry front group that attacks GM critics. Set up by Jay Byrne, L. Val Giddings and Eric Sachs, a PR operative for Monsanto, and launched with undisclosed industry money by two "independent professors" Bruce Chassy and David Tribe. Derogatory profiles of pesticide industry targets from Academics Review were later incorporated into Jay Byrne's Bonus Eventus project.
Articles: Academics Review: The Making of a Monsanto Front Group
Monsanto Fingerprints Found All Over Attack On Organic Food
Links to: Bruce Chassy, David Tribe, Drew Kershen, Jay Byrne, L Val Giddings, Eric Sachs, Bonus Eventus
ActivistCash USA
Website affiliated with the Monsanto-backed Center for Consumer Freedom.
Profiles: Sourcewatch
Articles: Tobacco Money Takes on Activist Cash
Links to: Rick Berman
Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE)
UK
Gives statutory advice to UK ministers on the risks to human health and the environment from the release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Describes itself as "independent" but its Chair, Jim Dunwell, is a former biotech industry employee with a Syngenta pension who was a founder member of CropGen, a lobby group funded by the biotech industry "to make the case for GM crops and foods", and every other member of ACRE also has potential or actual conflicts of interest.
Articles: 100% of members of UK government's GMO advisory body ACRE have potential or actual conflicts of interest
New men at GMO advisory body ACRE appear as conflicted as those they replaced
Biotech experts to lose GM role
Links to: Jim Dunwell, Nigel Poole, Jim Orson, Alan Raybould, Ben Raymond, Peter Lund, Phil Dale, Julian Kinderlerer, Huw D Jones
AfricaBio
South Africa
Industry-backed lobby for the adoption of GM crops in Africa. Played a key role in the establishment of the South African Committee for Genetic Experimentation (SAGENE).
Profiles: Powerbase
Links to: Muffy Koch, Jocelyn Webster, Jennifer Thomson
African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF)
Kenya
Key facilitator of the transfer of GM crops to Africa by promoting their public acceptance, regulatory approval and commercialisation. Presents itself as an African organisation but established by the Rockefeller Foundation with the help of Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta and Dow AgroSciences in the early 2000s. Monsanto's Gerard Barry, a member of AATF's initial advisory committee, said getting involved with AATF "has been fantastic for us". Other members of the advisory committee included Florence Wambugu and representatives of the GM seed companies Dow AgroSciences (later part of Corteva), Pioneer HiBred International (then part of Dupont, later part of Corteva), Aventis CropScience (later part of Bayer), Emergent Genetics (later part of Monsanto), and Monsanto Africa, as well as USAID. Funders have included Syngenta Foundation, USAID and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The latter two alone gave AATF approximately $261 million up to 2022. Studies on AATF projects have highlighted the prioritization of the interests of firms and donors over their African counterparts. Between 2008-2020, the AATF made $45,940,909 in contractor payments to Monsanto. Runs training for journalists, doctors, judges and biosafety regulators. Nigeria's former chief biosafety regulator openly acknowledges that his appointment was due to opportunities facilitated by AATF. Original chair: Jennifer Thomson.
Profiles: mBio Project and Powerbase
Articles: Characterizing Funding for Agricultural Biotechnology Research and Development in Africa
Bridging the gap? Public–private partnerships and genetically modified crop development for smallholder farmers in Africa
How the Gates Foundation is driving the food system, in the wrong direction
Mark Lynas is lying again!
Biotech ambassadors in Africa
Links to: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Jennifer Thomson, Gerard Barry, Florence Wambugu, USAID
African Biotechnology Stakeholders Forum Kenya
Industry front group spun off by ISAAA and Florence Wambugu.
Links to: Florence Wambugu
Africa Harvest Biotechnology Foundation International USA Kenya
Incorporated in the US; headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. Industry front group set up to promote GM crops in Africa by the Monsanto-trained scientist Florence Wambugu, who previously headed ISAAA’s AfriCenter with Monsanto's Gerard Barry. Funders have included Croplife International, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, DuPont USA and USAID.
Profiles: Powerbase
Article: Reuters Corrects Reporting of GM Lobbyists
Links to: Florence Wambugu, Croplife International, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
AgBioForum USA
Journal of Agrobiotechnology Management & Economics, with well known GM proponents, like C. S. Prakash, on its editorial board. Funded by the Illinois-Missouri Biotechnology Alliance whose purpose is "to fund biotechnology research... directed at expanding the volume of profitable businesses in the US food and agricultural sector". "Peer reviews" reports by PG Economics.
Article: GMOs cut greenhouse gas emissions, says new report
Links to: PG Economics, C. S. Prakash
AgBioView USA
Pro-GM listserv of AgBioWorld edited by C.S. Prakash
Profiles: Powerbase
Article: Seeds of Dissent
Links to: C.S. Prakash, Mary Murphy, Andura Smetacek
AgBioWorld USA
Website/campaign established by C.S. Prakash and Competitive Enterprise Institute.
Profiles: Powerbase
Article: Corporate Phantoms
Links to: Greg Conko, Mary Murphy, Andura Smetacek, Jay Byrne, Andrew Apel, Patrick Moore, Monsanto
Agricultural Biotechnology Council UK
UK lobby group of the main GM firms.
Profiles: Powerbase
Article: GM industry fund parliamentary group to promote return of GM crops to Britain
Links to: Lexington Communications, All-Party Parliamentary Group for Science and Technology in Agriculture
Agricultural Biotechnology Support Program (ABSP) USA
USAID project in partnership with GM firms to promote GM crops in developing countries.
Profiles: Powerbase and Sourcewatch
Links to: USAID, Program for Biosafety Systems (PBS)
Agriculture Commodity Coalition USA
Group of farm commodity organizations funded by industry-backed Council for Biotechnology Information.
Profiles: Powerbase
Links to: Kimball Nill
Agriculture et Liberté
France
One of the fake farmer groups defending glyphosate set up by PR agencies working for Monsanto
Articles: Fake "Farmer Willi" part of an international fake parade
How lobbyists for Monsanto led a 'grassroots farmers' movement against an EU glyphosate ban
Faux groupes d'agriculteurs de Monsanto: les coulisses d'une manipulation
Links to: Red Flag Consulting, FleishmanHillard, Lincoln Strategy Group, Free to Farm, Liberta di coltivare, Raum für Landwirtschaft, Libertad para consultar, Rolnictwo Dobrej Praktyki, Vrijheid om te Boeren
ALLEA (European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities)
European Union
Umbrella group representing more than 50 academies from over 40 EU and non-EU countries. ALLEA lobbies at the EU level for the deregulation of gene-edited plants and animals in order to persuade European policymakers to allow their commercialisation without mandatory safety checks, traceability, or labelling. ALLEA is one of three EU-level science organisations lobbying for deregulation, the others being the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO) and the EU network for Sustainable Agriculture through Genome Editing (EU-SAGE). Although ALLEA claims to be "fully independent from commercial interests", a large number of researchers actively involved in these three EU-level organisations have strong links with the seed industry. ALLEA became involved in EU-level lobbying on gene editing via its Flemish member, KVAB (Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts).
Report: Behind the Smokescreen: Vested interests of EU scientists lobbying for GMO deregulation
Articles: Many agbiotech scientists pushing for EU deregulation of GMOs have vested interests
Derailing EU rules on new GMOs
Links to: European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO), Sustainable Agriculture through Genome Editing (EU-SAGE), Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts (KVAB)
Alliance for Abundant Food and Energy USA
Industry lobby group – includes Monsanto - that promotes crop-based biofuels.
Profiles: Powerbase
Links to: Monsanto, DuPont
Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) USA Kenya
Registered in the US, headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, AGRA was set up to double the yields and incomes of 30 million smallholder households in 11 African countries via industrial agricultural practices by the end of 2020 - a goal which it comprehensively failed to achieve.
Reports: Failing Africa's Farmers: An Impact Assessment of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa
False Promises: The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)
AGRA Update: Withheld Internal Documents Reveal No Progress for Africa's Farmers
Articles: Gates 'failing green revolution in Africa'
AGRA's Green Revolution Has Failed, Critics Say
Book: The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning with the Myth of the Good Billionaire (chapter 13)
Video series: Rich Appetites - Billionaire philanthropists like Bill Gates are pushing the failed US agribusiness model onto Africa
Links to: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, AATF, CGIAR
Alliance for Science - see (Cornell) Alliance for Science USA
Allow Golden Rice Now!
Canada
Campaign founded in 2013 by Patrick Moore, an early member of Greenpeace who went on to work for the mining industry, the logging industry, PVC manufacturers, the nuclear industry and the biotech industry, and who denies that humans cause climate change. Like Owen Paterson, Mark Lynas, Bjorn Lomborg, Stewart Brand and others, Moore has long used golden rice as a PR weapon for attacking the environmental movement. Moore's golden rice campaign accuses "Greenpeace and its allies" of having "blocked" golden rice "resulting in 8 million deaths, mostly among poor children. We believe this is a crime against humanity as defined by the International Criminal Court." Steve Sawyer from Greenpeace International has commented, "The reality is that golden rice is a research project. It has not undergone safety tests and its claims to solving health problems are extremely optimistic, bordering on fantastic."
Articles: Patrick Moore's Golden Rice campaign featured on the BBC
GMO supporters promote climate denialist and corporate front man as champion of science
Why Patrick Moore calls GMWatch "a bunch of murdering bastards"
Links to: Patrick Moore, Kevin Folta, Owen Paterson, Mark Lynas, Bjorn Lomborg, Stewart Brand
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Science and Technology in Agriculture (APPGSTA) UK
Industry backed parliamentary lobby for the introduction of GM crop cultivation to the UK and against restrictions on pesticides. Previous chairmen include the former UK Science Minister George Freeman. Its current chairman, Julian Sturdy MP, has described glyphosate as "irreplaceable". The APPG is run by Daniel Pearsall of Front Foot Communications, which 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. Daniel Pearsall is also the coordinator for Science for Sustainable Agriculture, a lobby group which seems to have considerable overlap with APPGSTA, with APPGSTA members such as Matt Ridley, Jeff Rooker and Julian Sturdy among its Advisory Group.
Profiles: Powerbase
Articles: GM industry fund parliamentary group to promote return of GM crops to Britain
Links to: Daniel Pearsall, Science for Sustainable Agriculture, Owen Paterson, Matt Ridley, John Krebs, George Freeman, Julian Sturdy, Dick Taverne, Jeff Rooker, NFU, ABC, CropLife UK
American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) USA
Industry front group that produces PR for food and chemical industries. ACSH's leading figures have included the convicted felon (with multiple fraud convictions) Gilbert Ross and Hank Campbell, who has a taste for publishing Nazi eugenic blog posts. Funders have included Bayer, Syngenta, Monsanto, British American Tobacco, DowAgro, Exxon, Philip Morris and Koch Industries.
Profiles: Powerbase and Sourcewatch
Articles: The American Council on Science and Health is a Corporate Front Group
Corporate Front Group, American Council on Science and Health, Smears List of Its Enemies as "Deniers for Hire"
Seedy Business: key front groups and shills
5 Astroturf Groups You Should Stop Sharing From
Alex Berezow Hates Science, Is a Menace to Public Health
Combating Disinformation, Fake News, and Climate Denial
Forbes retracts attack on paper showing link between glyphosate and cancer
Links to: Elizabeth Whelan, Hank Campbell, Alex Berezow, Cameron English, Geoffrey Kabat, Deniers For Hire, Henry I. Miller, Dennis Avery, Gilbert Ross
American Enterprise Institute USA
Influential neoconservative think tank. Behind NGO Watch.
Profiles: Powerbase and SourceWatch
Links to: Dow Chemical, Exxon, Merck, Roger Bate, Project for the New American Century, Jon Entine
American Farm Bureau Federation USA
Farm Bureau calls itself a "grassroots organization" and claims to be the largest farm organisation in the US. But it is a top-down organisation with big agribusiness connections. In reality, most of its members are non-farmers buying AFBF insurance. For instance, the Illinois Farm Bureau has nearly 400,000 members but only 78,000 are farmers. When IFB decided to stop requiring insurance holders to become Farm Bureau members, they got kicked out of the Farm Bureau organisation.
Profiles: Powerbase and Sourcewatch
Links to: Truth About Trade and Technology, Dean Kleckner
American Soybean Association USA
Claims to represent soybean growers but receives funding from GM firms.
Profiles: Powerbase
Links to: Kimball Nill
Klaus Ammann
Switzerland
Was a key European lobbyist for GM crops. Played a central role in PRRI, Science4BioReg, and Ask-Force, three interconnecting lobbies for GM crops.
Profiles: Powerbase
Links to: Public Research and Regulation Initiative, EFB, Ask-Force
Philip Angell USA
Former director of communications for Monsanto.
Profiles: Powerbase
Links to: Jay Byrne, Graydon Forrer, William D. Ruckelshaus, Bivings
Andrew Apel USA
Agrichemical industry consultant, former editor of biotech industry newsletter AgBiotech Reporter and regular contributor and guest editor for AgBioView.
Profiles: Powerbase
Links to: AgBioView, AgBioWorld, CS Prakash
Ron Arnold USA
Executive vice-president, Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, pioneer Wise Use Movement.
Profiles: Powerbase
Article: The Uncle Tom Award
Links to: Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, Paul Driessen
Charles J. Arntzen USA
Genetic engineer specializing in edible vaccines.
Profiles: Powerbase
Ascham Associates UK
PR consultancy of former Dupont PR man.
Profiles: Powerbase
Links to: Martin Livermore, Scientific Alliance
Asian Food Information Centre
Singapore
Front group for food, agriculture and biotech industries.
Profiles: Powerbase
Links to: International Food Information Council
Asian Rice Biotechnology Network
Philippines
Set up by the International Rice Research Institute to help roll out GM rice in Asia.
Profiles: Powerbase
Links to: International Rice Research Institute
Alex Avery USA
Has aggressively lobbied for GM foods and against organic farming.
Profiles: Powerbase, SourceWatch
Article: Fake Blood on the Maize
Links to: Dennis Avery, Hudson Institute, Center for Global Food Issues, Graydon Forrer
Dennis Avery USA
Crusaded against organic farming and for GMOs, pesticides and climate scepticism. Advisor to American Council on Science and Health.
Profiles: Powerbase, SourceWatch
Links to: Alex Avery, Center for Global Food Issues, Hudson Institute, American Council on Science and Health