Gills fury at Monsanto ad

09 December 1998

Gill’s fury at Monsanto ad

By Johann Tasker

BIOTECH giant Monsanto has withdrawn an advertisement in which it tweaked a quote by Ben Gill, the president of the National Farmers Union. The advertisement, titled Food Technology. Whos really behind it?, quoted five high-ranking experts supposedly in favour of genetically modified (GM) crops. Monsanto quoted Mr Gill as saying that “biotechnology has the greatest potential to provide enormous opportunities for farmers.”

Monsanto website: Genetically modified words

The quote, which was based on an NFU press release, was used it as part of Monsantos £1 million publicity campaign this summer.

But Monsanto had added the word “greatest” and omitted part of the quote in which Mr Gill expressed his reservations about biotechnology.

In the original press release, Mr Gill had quantified his comments by saying that GM crops would only benefit farmers if consumers were prepared to buy them.

“Of course, the final acceptance of the farming industry of genetically modified foods will depend on whether there is consumer demand for it,” he had said.

Monsanto had already apologised for incorrectly quoting Mr Gill after the advertisement appeared in national newspapers over the summer.

“I had no prior knowledge they were going to use the statements in such a bald way without first checking with me,” Mr Gill told The Guardian.

Although the newspaper campaign has now ended, Monsanto continued to run an uncorrected version of the advertisement on its UK website.

The website advertisement was also withdrawn after a Farmers Weekly story last Friday drew attention to the fact that it was still in the public domain.