From: Jaffe, Lyle D
Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2002 7:51 AM
To: Dockets, FDA
Subject: FW: Monsanto admits......... Internet Campaign to Discredit Scientists, etc. 


-----Original Message-----
From: Betty Martini [mailto:Bettym19@mindspring.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2002 6:06 PM
To: aspartame@onelist.com; AspartameSurvivors@onelist.com
Subject: Fwd: Monsanto admits......... Internet Campaign to Discredit Scientists, etc. 




  From: Sh0shanna@aol.com
  Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2002 13:40:39 EDT
  Subject: Monsanto admits.........
  To: BettyM19@mindspring.com, PLANETNEWS@aol.com,
          RMNEWS_DAILY_EMAILS@yahoogroups.com
  X-Mailer: AOL 6.0 for Windows US sub 10572

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  Forwarded Message: 
  Subj: [MAI-NOT] Monsanto's PR firm admits involvement in e-mail campaign 
  Date: 6/8/02 4:11:12 PM Mountain Daylight Time 


  From:    papadop@peak.org (MichaelP) 
  Sender:    owner-mai-not@flora.org 





  Norfolk Genetic Information Network (ngin), 
  http://www.ngin.org.uk 
  --- 
  1. Monsanto's PR firm admits involvement in e-mail campaign 
  2. EXCERPT from BBC2's Newsnight programme broadcast 7th 
  June 
  --- 
  1. Monsanto's PR firm admits involvement in e-mail campaign 

  The Bivings Group, a Washington DC-based PR firm contracted to Monsanto, 
  has admitted involvement in an internet campaign involving smears against 
  scientists and other biotech industry critics. 

  Up till now The Bivings Group has always responded with total denial to 
  any media enquiries about its role in the dirty tricks campaign detailed 
  in a series of recent articles (see below). 

  This was only official comment the company had made to journalists: 

  "Statement on the Ecologist story entitled "Amaizing Disgrace" 

  This author and publication have a long history of making these types of 
  baseless claims.  The claims made in the Ecologist story, and the 
  subsequent story that appeared in the Guardian, are false.  From our 
  perspective, this piece merits no further discussion." 

  However, under pressure from the BBC's news and current affairs programme, 
  Nesnight, Bivings has now admitted for the first time that at least one of 
  the emails in question 'did come from someone "working for Bivings" or 
  "clients using our services"'. 

  The vaguely worded admission as well as destroying Bivings already damaged 
  credibility on this issue, is certain to raise yet more questions. 

  For example, the statement totally fails to explain how the e-mail could 
  have been sent from the accounts in question without the person concerned 
  having any responsibility for more than 60 other e-mails known to have 
  been sent from the same accounts. 

  The Bivings' admission also offers no explanation of its relatiponship 
  with agbioworld.org or of its involvement in other aspects of the internet 
  dirty tricks campaign that have been exposed, such as the fake Center for 
  Food and agricultural Research (cffar.org), which labels Monsanto's 
  critics "terrorists" and contains fabricated claims. 


  Finally, by including the phrase "clients using our services" in the 
  admission, Bivings appears to be directly implicating the one client most 
  directly relevant to the e-mails in question - biotech giant Monsanto. Up 
  till now Monsanto, like Bivings, has issued flat denials in response to 
  media enquiries about the dirty tricks campaign against its critics. 
  Clarification from Monsanto of its precise role in the affair is now 
  urgently needed. 

  You can read more about the dirty tricks campaign in the following: 

  CORPORATE GHOSTS 
  There's a web of deceit over GM food, says George Monbiot 
  -The Guardian, 29 May 2002 
  http://ngin.tripod.com/deceit7.html 

  THE FAKE PERSUADERS 
  Corporations are inventing people to rubbish their opponents on the 
  internet, says George Monbiot -The Guardian, 14 May 2002 
  http://ngin.tripod.com/deceit4.html 

  KERNELS OF TRUTH 
  Virulent criticisms were anything but academic 
  - The East Bay Express, 29 May 2002 
  http://ngin.tripod.com/deceit8.html 

  AMAIZING DISGRACE 
  A dirty tricks campaign leads straight to Monsanto's PR company 
  - The Ecologist, May 2002 
  http://ngin.tripod.com/deceit2.html 

  SEEDS OF DISSENT 
  Anti-GM scientists are facing widespread assualts on their 
  credibility. Andy Rowell investigates who is behind the attacks - Big 
  Issue, 15-21 April 2002  http://ngin.tripod.com/deceit3.html 

  SCIENTISTS IN A SPIN 
  How scientists have become embroiled in a PR dirty tricks campaign - 
  letter to The Guardian, 16 May 2002 
  http://ngin.tripod.com/deceit5.html 

  ALTERING NATURE 
  Exchange of letters with the editor of the science journal Nature - 
  The Guardian, 15, 20 & 24 May 2002 http://ngin.tripod.com/deceit6.html 
  --- EXCERPT from BBC2's Newsnight programme broadcast last night (7th 
  June): 

  As soon as Chapela's paper was published attacks on him started to appear 
  on the Internet. His supporters suspected a PR company called the Bivings 
  group - which helps Monsanto with its Internet work - was using a new 
  technique called viral marketing. On its website, Biving advised: "there 
  are some campaigns where it would be undesirable or even disastrous to let 
  the audience know that your organisation is directly involved". 

  Chapela's supporters claim to have tracked down examples of messages that 
  purport to have come from concerned individuals but appear to originate 
  from Bivings computers. Bivings told us one email did come from someone 
  "working for Bivings" or "clients using our services", but they deny 
  running a secret campaign. 
  ====================== 

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