millions for biotech PR effort

06 August 1997

£millions for biotech PR effort

PR company Burson-Marsteller has drawn up plans for a multi-million pound campaign to change perceptions of genetic engineering, biotechnology, food and environmental safety across Europe. It says the industry should target sympathetic journalists.

Biotechnology industry representative body EuropaBio has brought in Burson-Marsteller as crisis management consultants to try to improve the image of the sector.

Burson-Marsteller advised EuropaBio members not to discuss the safety of genetically engineered food and the risks it poses to the environment, according to a leaked document seen by The Guardian.

Environmental groups dismissed the strategy as “cynical and manipulative”.