Farmers for Freedom (India)
India
Farmers' union that has worked in concert with the biotech industry to promote GM crops.
Profiles: Powerbase
Linked to: Kisan Coordination Committee
Farmers for the Benefits of Biotechnology
USA
Campaign of the Tomorrow's Bounty Project, a PR project run by the Agriculture Commodity Coalition, which in turn is funded by the biotech industry-funded Council for Biotechnology Information.
Profiles: Powerbase
Linked to: Agriculture Commodity Coalition, Council for Biotechnology Information, Kimball Nill, Tomorrow's Bounty Project
Federation of Farmers Association (India)
India
A Hyderabad-based farmers' union that has supported GM crops in India. The FFA's president, Chengal Reddy, has had a close association with Monsanto.
Profiles: Powerbase
Linked to: Kisan Coordination Committee, Monsanto, Chengal Reddy
Field to Market
India
One of many emerging corporate front groups which seek to define and control sustainability in food production. GM giants Monsanto India, DuPont, and Bayer are members.
Profiles: Powerbase
Linked to: Bayer, DuPont, Monsanto
Michael Fitzpatrick
UK
Retired London GP and a leading member of the LM group from its earliest days. Trustee of pro-GM lobby group Sense About Science since 2010, despite having promoted AIDS denialism and disputed the health risks of secondhand smoke. Health correspondent for Spiked.
Profiles: Powerbase
Linked to: LM group, Sense About Science, Spiked
FleishmanHillard USA
Global PR agency headquartered in St Louis, Missouri, the home town of Monsanto, with offices in Paris and Brussels. In charge of Monsanto's pro-glyphosate campaign in Europe (starting 2016), including its Let Nothing Go strategy, which sought to actively counter any negative coverage in the media or on social media, so as to leave nothing unanswered. The firm was also accused in Le Monde of having, along with other Monsanto PR agencies such as Red Flag Consulting and FTI Consulting, breached French data privacy laws during the industry's EU glyphosate renewal campaign, in its efforts to keep tabs on the company's critics. Monsanto and FleishmanHillard were also accused of not declaring to the EU transparency register the extent of their multi-million lobbying spending. FleishmanHillard was also expected to set up "grassroots" groups to push industry's pro-glyphosate messages to decision makers. Farmers were a specifically identified target and for this Monsanto also hired the lobby firms Red Flag Consulting and Lincoln Strategy Group. This campaign caused considerable controversy. Earlier in 2013, Monsanto also selected FleishmanHillard to "reshape" its reputation in the US amid "fierce opposition" to genetically modified foods. Around the same time, FleishmanHillard also became the PR agency of record for Bayer.
Articles: Monsanto's media war to defend glyphosate
FleishmanHillard's secret lobby campaign for Monsanto
Bayer and Monsanto's shady PR firms
How lobbyists for Monsanto led a 'grassroots farmers' movement against an EU glyphosate ban
Links to: Red Flag Consulting, Lincoln Strategy Group, Agriculture et Liberté, Free to Farm, Nichols Dezenhall
Kevin Folta USA
University of Florida plant scientist, who has become one of the most prominent GMO and Roundup defenders in the United States, with close ties to Monsanto/Bayer.
Profiles: Sourcewatch and USRTK
Articles: Food Industry Enlisted Academics in G.M.O. Lobbying War, Emails Show
Explosive new evidence confirms Kevin Folta consulted for Bayer, despite all his denials
Kevin Folta stands accused of helping the GLP get Bayer’s big dollar funding, then lying about it
Once Aligned to Fight for Monsanto, GMO Activists Now Battle Among Themselves
Kevin Folta: A rogue's gallery
Kevin Folta's wife goes public, says abuse allegations are true
Kevin Folta's problem with ethics
Kevin Folta's kick-ass garden
Did Kevin Folta bully a senior scientist into stepping down?
The Bromance Continues: Kevin Folta Hearts Patrick Moore
Flacking for GMOs: How the Biotech Industry Cultivates Positive Media - and Discourages Criticism
The Puppetmasters of Academia (or What the NY Times Left out)
Linked to: Biofortified, Ketchum PR, Monsanto, GMO Answers, SciBabe, Stephan Neidenbach, Mary Mangan, Julie Kelly, Jon Entine, Genetic Literacy Project, Keith Kloor, Richard Bennett, Anastasia Bodnar, Karl Haro von Mogel, Patrick Moore, Tamar Haspel
Food and Drink Federation
UK
Lobby group that represents the food and drink industries and that has opposed GM labeling.
Profiles: Powerbase
Food Evolution USA
Documentary film about GMO foods funded by the trade group Institute for Food Technologists, whose president at the time was a former DuPont and Monsanto executive who now works for CropLife America, the pesticide trade association. Dozens of academics have called the film propaganda, and several people interviewed for the film described a deceptive filming process and said their views were taken out of context. Among the GMO promoters featured in the film are Monsanto’s Robb Fraley, Pamela Ronald, Alison Van Eenennaam, Mark Lynas, Karl Haro von Mogel, Nathanael Johnson and Tamar Haspel. Alison Van Eenennaam also helped to promote the film after its release.
Articles: Food Evolution GMO Film Serves Up Chemical Industry Agenda
Food Evolution Supports GMOs, but Not Science, Part 1
Food Evolution Supports GMOs, but Not Science, Part 2
GMO propaganda film: Food Evolution
Linked to: Robb Fraley, Pamela Ronald, Alison Van Eenennaam, Mark Lynas, Karl Haro von Mogel, Nathanael Johnson and Tamar Haspel
Foodsecurity.net
USA
Pro-GM website, now defunct, that attacked critics of GM foods. Has links to Graydon Forrer and Monsanto.
Profiles: Powerbase
Linked to: Bivings Group, Graydon Forrer, Monsanto
Food Standards Agency (FSA)
UK
Government agency that has been criticised for pro-GM and anti-organic bias. Its directors have strongly reflected these biases and have included John Krebs and Jeff Rooker. The FSA's current chief scientist, Guy Poppy, was a founder member of the biotech industry funded group CropGen, which lobbied for the introduction of GM crops to the UK. The FSA is responsible for designing the risk assessment for the UK's new regulatory regime on GMOs. Research shows FSA's five topic-focused committees all had majorities with conflicts of interest at some stage, likewise for FSA's board..
Profiles: Powerbase
Articles: UK’s Food Standards Agency wants to fast-track and greenlight lab-grown meat
Majority of members of UK's new GMO regulatory committee have conflicts of interest
Food Standards Agency consultation on "precision-bred" GMOs is misleading and flawed
Why the World Health Organization laughs at Britain's Food Standards Agency
Linked to: John Krebs, Royal Society, Jeff Rooker, Guy Poppy
Foresight Communications
UK
Lobbying firm that helped launch corporate front group the Scientific Alliance.
Profiles: Powerbase
Linked to: Scientific Alliance
Graydon Forrer
USA
Managing director of Life Sciences Strategies, a PR company that works for the biotech industry. LSS was in turn listed among the clients of the Bivings Group, a PR firm that worked for Monsanto.
Profiles: Powerbase
Linked to: Bivings Group, Life Sciences Strategies, Monsanto
Fiona Fox
UK
Director of the Science Media Centre and part of the Living Marxism (LM) network. Has engaged in genocide denial. Contributor to Spiked.
Profiles: LobbyWatch and Powerbase
Submission: Submission to the Board of the Science Media Centre
Articles: Smelling a Corporate Rat
Invasion of the Entryists
Coincidence or Conspiracy?
Interview with George Monbiot about the LM network
Science Media Centre director in fresh controversy
Science Media Centre director and her sister's support for terrorism in the spotlight
Linked to: Science Media Centre, Living Marxism, LM group, Tracey Brown, Spiked
Robb Fraley (Robert T Fraley)
USA
Monsanto's former executive vice president and chief technology officer, and an evangelist for GMO crops, who left the company in summer 2018 when it was taken over by Bayer. A pioneer of GMO crops, in the 1990s, together with Monsanto's then CEO Robert Shapiro, Fraley helped push through an aggressive acquisition plan to take over seed businesses and biotechnology firms in what he himself described as "a consolidation of the entire food chain". A close colleague at Monsanto described Fraley as "the most driven man I’ve ever known". Former board member of ISAAA. Featured in the film Food Evolution.
Articles: Made by Monsanto: the Corporate Shaping of GM Crops
Corporate money keeps university ag schools 'relevant,' and makes them targets of donor criticism
Linked to: Monsanto, Robert Shapiro, Rob Horsch, Food Evolution
Free to Farm UK
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, Agriculture et Liberté, Liberta di coltivare, Raum für Landwirtschaft, Libertad para consultar, Rolnictwo Dobrej Praktyki, Vrijheid om te Boeren
George Freeman UK
Tory MP and former UK Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation. Current head of the pro-GM parliamentary lobby the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Science and Technology in Agriculture. In January 2023, while still Minister for Science, he called for gene-edited crops to become a particular focus for UK science. Before first becoming an MP in 2010, Freeman worked as a parliamentary lobbyist for the National Farmers Union (NFU) and had a 15-year career in biotech venture capital. Prior to becoming a minister, Freeman headed the NFU and biotech industry-backed All-Party Parliamentary Group on Science and Technology in Agriculture, for the first time. In this role, he was accused of allowing the APPG to be used by Monsanto and other GM companies to lobby the Government on behalf of their business interests. In 2011, he was appointed the UK Government's Life Science Advisor. In 2012, Freeman hosted a meeting between the GM industry and ministers to discuss a plan prepared by the the industry lobby group the ABC to promote GM crops in Britain. Has been caught up in several revolving door controversies, involving claims of profiteering from his parliamentary access and breaching the ministerial code.
Articles: GM industry fund parliamentary group to promote return of GM crops to Britain
Mr Frankenfood and the GM breakthroughs that never were
Monsanto meets ministers to push return of GM crops
MP faces cash for questions claims
Tory MP reported after breaking ministerial code – again
Post-Brexit science should focus on agritech, gene-edited crops says minister
Links to: All-Party Parliamentary Group on Science and Technology in Agriculture, Daniel Pearsall, Owen Paterson, Matt Ridley, John Krebs, Julian Sturdy, National Farmers Union, ABC, CropLife UK
Emile Frison
Belgium
Profiles: Powerbase
Article: Only GM can save the banana
Linked to: Biodiversity International
Michael Fumento USA
Has been a science writer at the libertarian Reason magazine and a fellow with the Hudson Institute, the American Enterprise Institute and Consumer Alert. Affiliated to the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Sacked as a columnist by Scripps Howard for not disclosing he had received $60,000 from Monsanto. Received the American Council on Science and Health's Distinguished Science Journalist award for his book Science Under Siege: How the Environmental Misinformation Campaign Is Affecting Our Lives. Close friend and collaborator of Steven Milloy of "junk science" fame, and one of the authors, along with Henry I. Miller and Elizabeth Whelan among others, of the Fear Profiteers report on Milloy's NoMoreScares.com website.
Profiles: Powerbase, SourceWatch
Links to: Monsanto, Center for Global Food Issues, Hudson Institute, American Council on Science and Health, American Enterprise Institute, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Reason, NoMoreScares, Henry I. Miller, Elizabeth Whelan, Steven Milloy