b'THE RISK CORNER BY: DAVID ZARUKFEAR DISTRACTION: CORPORATE EUROPE OBSERVATORYO neoftheleadingvoicesintions, their science, therefore, cannot beBoobis, Corporate Europe Observatorys the activist campaign againsttrusted and must be excluded from themessage is clear: If you cooperate with gene-edited seeds and agricul- policy process. industry, we will hurt you. Policymakers tural technologies in general is Corporateand regulators fear these rottweilers, Europe Observatory (CEO). In the lastAWFULNESS OVER FACTS so they have simply stopped engaging three years, they have released 26 reportsCEO has woven a narrative of industrydirectly with industry officials. When or campaigns against agrotechnology.as being truly awfulgreedy, deceptiveI had some limited success in the drive Their report, claiming that new plantcorporations only concerned with profitsto reauthorise glyphosate in the EU in breeding technologies were simply GMOand happy to see the innocent and vul- 2016, CEOs Martin Pigeon worked with 2.0, was widely cited in the 2018 cam- nerable suffer as they destroy the envi- an academic to have me removed from a paign to get the Court of Justice of theronment. Which ones? All of them. Thisuniversity lecturer post. I suppose I was European Union to rule that gene-editedawfulness, coupled with victimisation oftruly awful.innovations would have to fall under thepeople like us is more potent than fearCEO succeeded in creating a fear EUs restrictive 2001 GMO Directive.of some uncertainty over some potentialdistraction by linking the low risks of As other NGOs are stepping awayrisk. Awful creates an outrage senti- gene editing to the awfulness of industry from campaigning against gene editing,ment, a contempt, propelling the need to(and anyone who supports them).CEO is becoming the last loud voice oftake action and fight corporate injustice. protest among a disparate group of fake- This fear distraction isolates thePROTESTING INDUSTRYnews fearmongers. Public fear of seedargument at the policy level. It is no longerIN THE FIELDSbreeding, gene editing and genetic modi- an issue of acting according to facts andThe argument that the food chain is now fication is declining as their three-decadeevidence, but rather not acting becausedominated by large industrial groups presence in the food chain is becomingof the perceived nature of the people andis not limited to big chemical and seed mundane (what I have referred to as theorganisations involved. People are willingcompanies. Activist groups like CEO are banalisation of common risks) so activ- to believe ridiculous claims when they arenow protesting against any large agri-ist NGOs have to become more creative infilled with outrage against something pre- cultural developments where the use of their fear-driven campaigns.sented as truly awful.technology will create unfair advantages Corporate Europe Observatory hasSo, we have a fake-news narrativeover small (usually organic) farmers. developed a narrative of large corporationsbecome believable that a mid-sized com- Industrial farming is the new awful.taking control of the food chain with poi- pany like Monsanto had suitcases stuffedThe most alarming news in 2022 sonous chemicals and unknown biotechnol- with cash to pay off every governmentwas when a peasant-group-led campaign ogies. In spreading this fear, they envisionregulator and academic scientist. Thisattacked farmers in France building an alternative world of small, organic farm- outrage campaign even filtered down toirrigation ponds. Faced with successive ers feeding local communities with heir- glyphosate lawsuits with jurors demand- years of summer droughts, activists loom seeds and no synthetic inputs. ing compensation in the billions of dol- are demanding less intensive farming From information publicly availa- lars because Monsantos corporate headrather than investing in basic technol-ble, it appears that CEO do not employof research did not return a phone callogies (that organic small-holders could agronomists or have any seed researchto a groundskeeper who had spilled somenot develop). In October, thousands of capacity. Their budget does not includeglyphosate down his back. militants attacked an irrigation project any scientific consultants or lab costs.CEOs malicious attacks do notin Sainte-Soline, hospitalising dozens of The activists who produce their multipleonly spread fake news against compa- police officers and spreading their nave reports have little scientific background.nies. They seem to excel at savaging themessage of another way of farming (with-Their argument against seed breedingpersonal reputations of academic scien- out irrigation). and gene editing is not based on the factstists who have worked on projects withCEOs fear distraction and anti-in-or science. They simply campaign thatindustry (or even simply consulted fordustry narrative has now fed into to an the technology comes from big corpora- them). Running assault articles againstanti-farming agenda. Maybe I have a dif-tions or is industry-funded. Their innova- respected scientists like Professor Alanferent definition of awful.EUROPEAN-SEED.COMIEUROPEAN SEED I 23'