Insider Secrets on How the Biotech Industry Shapes the Story of GMOs

Check out this fabulous new report from the new non-profit, the U.S. Right to Know Network. “Seedy Business: What Big Food is hiding with its slick PR campaign on GMOs” [PDF] includes amazing detail about the ways GMO companies have been working to control the narrative about the benefits and risks of GMOs. The report has amazing scoops on how the biotech industry has fought its information wars. Author and USRTK co-founder Gary Ruskin writes, for instance, about PR firm Ketchum’s work with the trade group, Council on Biotechnology. For the Council, Ketchum created the website GMOAnswers, which won the company the prestigious Clio Award. As Ruskin says, Ketchum flaunts how the website, and engagement on Twitter directing people to it, helped to shift the online conversation about GMOs. From the Report: Ketchum “seeks out negative (biotech-related) tweets on Twitter…They’ll monitor for negative tweets and then ask (the author) to check out GMOAnswers. Since it was launched, ” there’s been about an 80 percent reduction in negative Twitter traffic as it relates to GMOs.” Shows what money will buy you. Read more about this and other examples of industry influence on the story of GMOs from U.S. Right to Know network. (You can watch the Ketchum story of GMOAnswers here).