permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

On Fri, Jul 1, 2016 at 10:24 AM, Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Nobel laureates urge Greenpeace to stop opposing GMOs | Reuters
>
> http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-usa-gmo-nobels-idUKKCN0ZG2UZ?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social
>
> Nobel laureates urge Greenpeace to stop opposing GMOs
>
> http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-usa-gmo-nobels-idUKKCN0ZG2UZ?utm_source=Facebook&amp;utm_medium=Social
> <http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-usa-gmo-nobels-idUKKCN0ZG2UZ?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social>
>
An update:

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject:     107 Nobel Laureate Attack on Greenpeace Traced Back to Biotech
PR Operators
Date:     Thu, 30 Jun 2016 23:00:54 -0400
From:     Jonathan Latham <jrlatham@bioscienceresource.org>
To:     bsr-PROJECT-ELIST1@gn.apc.org


Dear Friends and Colleagues

Apologies for the short interval but we could not resist writing up this
short story.

Published today (July 1st 2016) on Independent Science News:

107 Nobel Laureate Attack on Greenpeace Traced Back to Biotech PR Operators
by Jonathan Latham, PhD

https://www.independentsciencenews.org/news/107-nobel-laureate-attack-on-greenpeace-traced-back-to-biotech-pr-operators/

Synopsis: When 107 Nobel Laureates demanded that Greenpeace cease its
opposition to GMOs and “golden rice”, no one in the press seems to have
asked if the event was organised by the biotech industry. They should have.

Pleae share if you enjoy it. Appologies for cross posting.
Best wishes

Jonathan

Jonathan Latham, PhD
Executive Director
The Bioscience Resource Project
Ithaca, NY 14850 USA

www.independentsciencenews.org
and
www.bioscienceresource.org

jrlatham@bioscienceresource.org
Skype: jonathanlatham2
Tel: 1-607-319-0279

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and
opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those
who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible
government which is the true ruling power of our country.”—Edward Bernays,
Propaganda
Attachments area

<>

107 Nobel Laureate Attack on Greenpeace Traced Back to Biotech PR Operators
https://www.independentsciencenews.org/news/107-nobel-laureate-attack-on-greenpeace-traced-back-to-biotech-pr-operators/

July 1, 2016 Biotechnology
<https://www.independentsciencenews.org/sections/biotechnology/>, Health
<https://www.independentsciencenews.org/sections/health/>, News
<https://www.independentsciencenews.org/sections/news/> 6 Comments

by Jonathan Latham, PhD

Greenpeace was denied entrance yesterday (June 30) to a National Press Club
Event in Washington, DC of 107 Nobel Laureates
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/06/29/more-than-100-nobel-laureates-take-on-greenpeace-over-gmo-stance/>.
The event was ostensibly organised by a scientific group calling itself 
Support
Precision Agriculture <http://supportprecisionagriculture.org/> to
publicise a letter
<http://supportprecisionagriculture.org/nobel-laureate-gmo-letter_rjr.html>
signed by 107 Nobel Laureates demanding that Greenpeace
<http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/> cease its opposition to “golden rice” and
GMO technology in general. Greenpeace was attempting to attend the event.
However, senior research specialist on GMOs, Charlie Cray, accompanied by
Tim Schwab, senior researcher from Food and Water Watch
<http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/> were both physically prevented from
entering the Press Club.

“*We were told that only credentialed Press were allowed.*” Schwab
told *Independent
Science News*.

According to Schwab “I then saw Greg Jaffe from the NGO Center for Science
in The Public Interest (CSPI) entering the room.” Informed of this, the
security person changed his story: some NGO’s were invited to attend.

Afterwords, Schwab told us “*Some NGOs were invited: Really?  Why not
Greenpeace—the subject of this campaign?*”

Nor was the security person just anyone. Schwab and Cray recognised him as
Jay Byrne. Byrne is the former head of corporate communications for
Monsanto (1997-2001 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Byrne>).

Byrne now heads the biotech public relations outfit v-Fluence and is heavily
involved in biotech-academic PR
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stacy-malkan/monsanto-fingerprints-fou_b_10757524.html>.
Typical of his style was a contribution to the book “Let Them Eat Precaution
<https://www.amazon.com/Let-Them-Eat-Precaution-Undermining/dp/0844742007/192-8393278-7453459?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0>”
published in 2005 by the American Enterprise Institute and edited by Jon
Entine of the Genetic Literacy Project
<https://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/>.

The Genetic Literacy Project
<http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2012/02/atrazine-syngengta-tyrone-hayes-jon-entine>
promotes biotechnology. Its strapline is “Science Trumps Ideology”. Asked
by Cray and Schwab why he was minding the door, Byrne claimed he was 
“*strictly
a volunteer*“.

Charlie Cray, the Greenpeace researcher later tweeted this:
[image: Charlie Cray Tweet re Jay Byrne]
Charlie Cray Tweet re Jay Byrne

According to the website GMWatch
<http://www.gmwatch.org/news/latest-news/17077>, the url:
supportprecisionagriculture.org has an inoperative sister:
supportprecisionagriculture.*com* that is traceable back to the Genetic
Literacy Project.

Addendum (12:56 pm): The list of signatories includes Alfred G Gilman
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_G._Gilman>, who died last year (on
Dec 23 2015).



-- 
Lawrence F. London
lfljvenaura@gmail.com
https://sites.google.com/site/avantgeared/
https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/116100117925365792988/+Avantgeared/posts
https://ello.co/permaculture
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