SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
The pro-GMO lobby reportedly targeted Rachel Parent, founder of the not-for-profit organization Kids Right To Know.
(Photo: Screenshot/GlobalNews.ca)
Threatened by Powerful Voice, Industry 'Attack Dog' Hired to Discredit Teenage Anti-GMO Activist
"The agrochemical industry is plainly quite threatened by this teenage schoolgirl, so that's why they're after her."
Dec 22, 2015
The U.S. agrochemical lobby targeted a Canadian teenager as part of its "increasingly nasty and divisive public relations war over GMOs," according to new reporting from Global News.
Rachel Parent was 14 years old when her activism around labeling genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food caught the eye of pro-GMO corporations and lobby groups.
According to emails and thousands of other pages of documents released in a freedom of information request by U.S. Right to Know (USRTK), a non-profit advocacy group funded by the Organic Consumers Association, these industry forces conspired to think of ways to discredit Parent and counter her message.
"It's mostly scientists that they attack, but Rachel is a standout," Gary Ruskin, the co-director of USRTK, told Global News. "The agrochemical industry is quite threatened by this teenage schoolgirl, so that's why they're after her."
The news outlet reports, among other things, that University of Florida professor Kevin Folta—whom Ruskin describes as "one of the principal attack dogs of the agrochemical industry"—was hired by public relations firm Ketchum to make a video about Parent.
According to Global News:
The video discussed Parent's activism, her belief that all GMO food products should be labeled, and addressed her apparent lack of scientific knowledge.
"So when I think about answering Rachel Parent, who's the activist child - well, young woman - who's running the website 'Kids Right to Know...The things I just adore about Rachel is that she's clearly very articulate, clearly intelligent," Folta said in the video.
"The problem that I have is when Rachel starts to let non-scientific thinking really kind of cloud her final decision-making process."
Parent said she finds the tone of the video "almost degrading."
A poll earlier this month commissioned by a coalition of consumer and environmental groups found that nearly 90 percent of Americans want GMO foods to be labeled.
For more, see the Global News video below:
On January 20th, it begins...
Political revenge. Mass deportations. Project 2025. Unfathomable corruption. Attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Pardons for insurrectionists. An all-out assault on democracy. Republicans in Congress are scrambling to give Trump broad new powers to strip the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit he doesn’t like by declaring it a “terrorist-supporting organization.” Trump has already begun filing lawsuits against news outlets that criticize him. At Common Dreams, we won’t back down, but we must get ready for whatever Trump and his thugs throw at us. Our Year-End campaign is our most important fundraiser of the year. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. By donating today, please help us fight the dangers of a second Trump presidency. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Deirdre Fulton
Deirdre Fulton is a former Common Dreams senior editor and staff writer. Previously she worked as an editor and writer for the Portland Phoenix and the Boston Phoenix, where she was honored by the New England Press Association and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. A Boston University graduate, Deirdre is a co-founder of the Maine-based Lorem Ipsum Theater Collective and the PortFringe theater festival. She writes young adult fiction in her spare time.
activismagriculturechildrencorporate powerfoodgmogmo labelinggmosmonsantoorganic consumers associationagrochemicals
The U.S. agrochemical lobby targeted a Canadian teenager as part of its "increasingly nasty and divisive public relations war over GMOs," according to new reporting from Global News.
Rachel Parent was 14 years old when her activism around labeling genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food caught the eye of pro-GMO corporations and lobby groups.
According to emails and thousands of other pages of documents released in a freedom of information request by U.S. Right to Know (USRTK), a non-profit advocacy group funded by the Organic Consumers Association, these industry forces conspired to think of ways to discredit Parent and counter her message.
"It's mostly scientists that they attack, but Rachel is a standout," Gary Ruskin, the co-director of USRTK, told Global News. "The agrochemical industry is quite threatened by this teenage schoolgirl, so that's why they're after her."
The news outlet reports, among other things, that University of Florida professor Kevin Folta—whom Ruskin describes as "one of the principal attack dogs of the agrochemical industry"—was hired by public relations firm Ketchum to make a video about Parent.
According to Global News:
The video discussed Parent's activism, her belief that all GMO food products should be labeled, and addressed her apparent lack of scientific knowledge.
"So when I think about answering Rachel Parent, who's the activist child - well, young woman - who's running the website 'Kids Right to Know...The things I just adore about Rachel is that she's clearly very articulate, clearly intelligent," Folta said in the video.
"The problem that I have is when Rachel starts to let non-scientific thinking really kind of cloud her final decision-making process."
Parent said she finds the tone of the video "almost degrading."
A poll earlier this month commissioned by a coalition of consumer and environmental groups found that nearly 90 percent of Americans want GMO foods to be labeled.
For more, see the Global News video below:
Deirdre Fulton
Deirdre Fulton is a former Common Dreams senior editor and staff writer. Previously she worked as an editor and writer for the Portland Phoenix and the Boston Phoenix, where she was honored by the New England Press Association and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. A Boston University graduate, Deirdre is a co-founder of the Maine-based Lorem Ipsum Theater Collective and the PortFringe theater festival. She writes young adult fiction in her spare time.
The U.S. agrochemical lobby targeted a Canadian teenager as part of its "increasingly nasty and divisive public relations war over GMOs," according to new reporting from Global News.
Rachel Parent was 14 years old when her activism around labeling genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food caught the eye of pro-GMO corporations and lobby groups.
According to emails and thousands of other pages of documents released in a freedom of information request by U.S. Right to Know (USRTK), a non-profit advocacy group funded by the Organic Consumers Association, these industry forces conspired to think of ways to discredit Parent and counter her message.
"It's mostly scientists that they attack, but Rachel is a standout," Gary Ruskin, the co-director of USRTK, told Global News. "The agrochemical industry is quite threatened by this teenage schoolgirl, so that's why they're after her."
The news outlet reports, among other things, that University of Florida professor Kevin Folta—whom Ruskin describes as "one of the principal attack dogs of the agrochemical industry"—was hired by public relations firm Ketchum to make a video about Parent.
According to Global News:
The video discussed Parent's activism, her belief that all GMO food products should be labeled, and addressed her apparent lack of scientific knowledge.
"So when I think about answering Rachel Parent, who's the activist child - well, young woman - who's running the website 'Kids Right to Know...The things I just adore about Rachel is that she's clearly very articulate, clearly intelligent," Folta said in the video.
"The problem that I have is when Rachel starts to let non-scientific thinking really kind of cloud her final decision-making process."
Parent said she finds the tone of the video "almost degrading."
A poll earlier this month commissioned by a coalition of consumer and environmental groups found that nearly 90 percent of Americans want GMO foods to be labeled.
For more, see the Global News video below:
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.