$100,000 vs $50-million -- Competing Biotech PR Campaigns

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"This month, April 2000, biotech biggies Aventis CropScience, BASF, Dow Chemical, Dupont, Monsanto, Novartis, and Zeneca Ag Products, in conjunction with their trade association, launched at $50-million, multi-year, North American PR campaign to improve public understanding and acceptance of biotechnology, particularly genetically modified foods," notes PR pro and right-wing ideologue Ross Irvine (not to be confused with right-wing ideologue Reed Irvine). "Coincidentally, over the past several months a number of social activist non-governmental organizations have been discussing a proposal which requires $100,000 to support a new group called the Genetic Engineering Action Network (GEAN) ... as 'an important catalyst in the fight against genetic engineering.'" Despite industry's overwhelming advantage in dollars, Irvine worries that "the little guys, the non-governmental organizations (NGOs), are the superior force and will defeat multi-national biotech corporations in what may be one of the most significant discussions of the 21st century."