1.Public Research & Regulation Fraud - GM Watch
2.Biotechnolgy meeting convenes here - press article
3.Public Research & Regulation Foundation
*Steering Commitee.
*Organisation, coordination and further contacts
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1.Public Research & Regulation Fraud - GM Watch

The article below describes a new initiative - The Public Research Sector Initiative executed by a foundation called "Public Research and Regulation". The initiative is based on deceit.

The biotech scientists involved, who are meeting today and tomorrow, are saying that they represent a third non-aligned group between civil society and industry who should "weigh in" at meetings of the Cartagena Protocol that help determine biosafety rules. They claim "the public research sector has been not able to provide scientific input for the benefit of the negotiations nor to express its views about the effectiveness and workability of the provisions of the Protocol."

Their call for increased leverage for "nonprofit" "public sector" players belies the heavy industrial-alignment of most public sector agricultural biotechnology where there is a long history of involvement with intensive agricultural R&D and of collaboration with agribusiness multinationals, not to mention dependence on industry funding. The effect of this is to generate convergence between private sector and public sector operators.

This convergence means that the "third" group would not be non-aligned but would have interests and an agenda that would all too often be indistinguisgable from that of the industry. In other words, biotech proponents would get two bites of the cherry to the rest of society's one.

The problem is apparent as soon as one looks at the detail of this initiative and those that are driving it forward. Although the biotech scientists claim it is a "misconception that modern biotechnology, and in particular its agricultural application, is the exclusive domain of a handful of big, western multinationals", they are actually holding their meeting today at the Donald Danforth Plant Sciences Center in St Louis, Missouri – the home town of Monsanto.

This is no coincidence. The Danforth Center was established by Monsanto Corporation "and academic partners" with a $70-million pledge from Monsanto. The company also donated the 40-acre tract of land, valued at $11.4 million, on which the Center is built.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=200

And don't be fooled when a scientist turned political lobbyist is quoted at the end of the article as saying, "My career would be much better served if I wasn't doing this," and "My dream is to win this battle and go back to the lab full time". For many of the scientists involved in this initiative, their labs, their research and their current careers would simply not exist if it were not for the largesse of the biotech industry.

Take, for instance, Roger Beachy, the Danforth Center President, who is helping to drive forward this initiative and who is quoted in the article. Monsanto and other biotech companies have helped to fund Beachy's research, quite apart from the massive corporate support underlying the Center he heads.

One of the 2 key contacts for the group, and a member of the Steering Committee, is Willy de Greef of the Institute for Plant Biotechnology for Developing Countries (IPBO). Previously de Greef was a leading light of Syngenta – the world's biggest biotech corporation. And Beachy and de Greef are very far from alone in their corporate connections - see the list below.

And when the article asks, "Can public-sector scientists become better salesmen?", it misses the point that many of those involved are "salesmen" and often their lobbying is underwritten directly or indirectly by the biotech industry.

Here are more of those who "support the initiative and wish to be actively involved in its activities":

Prof. Klaus Ammann , Botanical Garden, University of Bern, Switzerland
-ardent supporter and lobbyist for GM crops and co-editor of the Bio-Scope, supported by GM industry lobby group Europabio.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=8
Dr. Gerard Barry , The International Rice Research Institute, Philippines
-former Director of Research, Production and Technical Cooperation at Monsanto
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=294
Dr. Andrew Bennett, Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, Switzerland
-Syngenta directors occupy 3 of the 5 seats on the Syngenta Foundation's board.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=175
Dr. Joel Cohen , International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, United States
-when at USAID Cohen worked with Monsanto to establish the notorious GM sweet potato project
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=131
Prof. Philip J. Dale, Genetic Modification and Biosafety Research Group, John Innes Centre , United Kingdom
-Dale is on the advisory council of the controversial lobby group Sense About Science which the John Innes Centre also helps to fund. JIC has been involved in multi-million pound research alliances with Syngenta, Dupont and others.http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=67
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=34
Prof. Drew L. Kershen , University of Oklahoma College of Law, United States
-Well known Prakash supporter
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=106&page=P
Dr. Muffy Koch , AgBios, Canada
-highly controversial lobbyist. Part of biotech industry-funded AfricaBio lobby group
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=271
Piet van der Meer , HORIZONS sprl, Belgium
-regarded as "having let the industry in" to biosafety development in the developing world
Dr. James Peacock, Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO ), Australia
-collaboration between the CSIRO and Monsanto generated Australia's first major GM commercial crop. According to John Stocker, CSIRO's former chief executive, "Working with the transnationals makes a lot of sense... Yes, we do find that it is often the best strategy to get into bed with these companies. "
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=187
Prof. Ingo Potrykus , Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Institute of Plant Science, Switzerland
-golden rice originator who has happily used it for PR purposes for genetic engineering. Accuses Greenpeace of 'crimes against humanity'
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=105
Prof. Jennifer Thompson , Department of Microbiology University of Cape Town, South-Africa
-board member of the biotech industry-funded lobby groups AfricaBio and ISAAA
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