U.S. Right to Know Research Director Carey Gillam in The Guardian, August 9, 2019, describes how Monsanto, in the news recently for its herbicide Roundup, devised a plan to discredit the findings in her 2017 book on the suppression of science in marketing its herbicides. They recruited employees to write negative reviews of the book. And during the Roundup cancer trial last march they posted one of their employees to pose as a reporter and suggested to other reporters story lines on Monsanto’s side.
Stacy Malkan of the U.S. Right to Know, August 8, 2019, describes how Monsanto tried to counter revelations on the ties between the company and university professors. The company tried to frame the U.S. Right to Know’s investigation as “an attack on scientific integrity and academic freedom.”
Monsanto’s parent company Bayer announced in June that it was creating watch lists in seven countries for monitoring the work of journalists, politicians and activists. Bayer said it had launched an initiative to “drive transparency and sustainability across our business.” (ABC News, June 18, 2019, by Soo Youn)