The global drug firm Roche has decided to withdraw from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA), the peak lobbying group for the U.S. drug industry. Following its purchase of the biotechnology company Genentech, Roche decided that it prefers to belong to the Biotechnology Industry Organization. In The Star-Ledger, Susan Toddalso reported that "without Roche, PhRMA also loses critical revenue for carrying out its lobbying activities." Roche, she wrote, also "plans to pull out of another pharma-related affiliation, its sponsorship of a special pharmaceutical management program at Rutgers Business School." In Britain, Roche UK decided "not to renew its membership of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, after it was suspended for six months for 'bringing the industry into disrepute'," reported the Financial Times.

"Biotechnology companies are keeping university scientists from fully researching the effectiveness and environmental impact of the industry’s genetically modified crops, according to an unusual complaint issued by a group of those scientists," reports Andrew Pollack. Because GM crops are considered "intellectual property" of the companies that sell them, researchers need permission from the company to plant them, even for research purposes. In their complaint, the scientists say that sometimes companies deny that permission is withheld or insist on reviewing any findings before they can be published. "If a company can control the research that appears in the public domain, they can reduce the potential negatives that can come out of any research," said Ken Ostlie, one of the scientists who signed the statement. The scientists warn that "No truly independent research can be legally conducted on many critical questions."

Monsanto, Dupont, Archer Daniels Midland and the PR giant Burson-Marsteller are some of the corporations behind the Alliance for Abundant Food and Energy. No doubt feel-good ads from this front group will soon fill the airwaves, especially in Washington DC. The Washington Post reports, "A group of the world's biggest agribusiness companies announced it will use lobbyists on Capitol Hill and national ads to build the case for fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel, even as grain prices climb worldwide. The biofuels industry has blossomed under federal mandates requiring the United States to increase alternative fuel usage by 2009. The mandates are under attack from groups who blame the new industry for rising food prices that have sparked riots and hoarding in several countries. ... The alliance has a budget of several million dollars for the campaign, but it did not disclose the exact amount."

As CMD previously reported, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) operates a School of Medicine and a School of Public Health while enjoying a cozy relationship with the tobacco industry, especially cigarette maker Philip Morris (PM). Now the New York Times reports that in 2006, VCU entered into a secret and extraordinarily restrictive research contract with PM that bars researchers from publishing, or even talking about, study results without first getting approval from PM. If news organizations ask about the contract, university officials are supposed to decline to comment and tell PM about the inquiry. All patents and other intellectual property created under the contract go to PM. The contract violates VCU guidelines for industry-sponsored research, which state "University faculty and students must be free to publish their results." David Rosner, a professor of public health and history at Columbia University in New York, says VCU's contract is "counter to the entire purpose and rationale of a university." VCU President Eugene Trani, who refused to be interviewed for the Times article, owns 6,250 shares of common stock in the Universal Leaf Corporation and sits on their Board of Directors.

Soybean plantThe biotechnology industry has invoked the need for genetically modified (GM) crops to meet the growing global food crisis. For example, Archer Daniels Midland called itself the "supermarket to the world" in its ads. But a recent study carried out on soybeans in Kansas found that GM crops produced significantly less food than their conventional counterparts. A GM soybean from Monsanto produced 70 bushels per acre, compared to 77 per acre for a virtually identical unaltered soybeans. Even after adding extra nutrients that Monsanto's weedkiller, Roundup, seems to block, production was only brought up to the same level as the non-engineered plants. An earlier study in Nebraska found similar results. Monsanto said "it was surprised by the extent of the decline found by the Kansas study, but not by the fact that the yields had dropped. It said that the soya had not been engineered to increase yields, and that it was now developing one that would." Others are skeptical. Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, said that "the physiology of plants was now reaching the limits of the productivity that could be achieved." The International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development has also "concluded that GM was not the answer to world hunger." And, "when asked if GM could solve world hunger," the chief scientist at the British Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Professor Bob Watson, said, "The simple answer is no."

A new "grassroots" farmers' group with close ties to Monsanto has been formed to outlaw labels that would notify consumers they are buying milk from cows not treated with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH). Monsanto genetically engineers rBGH, called Posilac, which is injected into cows, forcing them to produce more milk. The front group American Farmers for the Advancement and Conservation of Technology (AFACT), which receives funding from Monsanto, was organized by Osborne & Barr, an agri-marketing firm started by two former Monsanto employees in 1988. The founding client of Osborne & Barr was Monsanto. Consultant Monty G. Miller of Estes Park, Colorado, also helped organize AFACT, which was formally launched in California in February 2008. The only contact information AFACT lists on its website is a fax number listed as belonging to "Outer Office." Outer Office provides secretarial and operational support (such as scheduling, newsletters and message-taking) to small consulting businesses. A call to Outer Office seeking the address and telephone contact information for AFACT was not returned.

José Bové is a leading French activist against biotechnologyThe government of President Nicolas Sarkozy wants the French people to be able to opt for genetically modified organisms (GMOs), not just to opt against them. A proposed law governing GMOs and defining several broad principles has been forwarded to the Conseil d'Etat (the French equivalent to the U.S. Supreme Court) and the executive branch hopes that it will be passed by Parliament by February 2008. Some passages appear positive, like "GMOs cannot be commercialized, cultivated or used except in a manner that is respectful to the environment and public health, and with complete transparency." But these are followed by obvious nods to GMO producers, such as a revision from the right to choose freely to produce and consume "without GMOs" to "the liberty to consume and produce with or without" GMOs. Arnaud Apoteker of Greenpeace said that he is disappointed. "The project doesn't give priority to non-GMO cultivation. It gives the impression that coexistence is possible, whereas the dissemination of GMOs is inevitable." GMO proponents don't see the proposed legislation as completely positive either. A spokesman for seed producers said that the articles that assign responsibility to the GMO users and the seed distributor for any damages caused to neighboring fields due to seed drift, and the need to register usage of GMO seed stock at a more local level than expected "are problematic."