Monsanto responds to GMO haters

Years of ignoring critics might be coming to an end for St. Louis-based biotechnology giant Monsanto.

According to Politico.com, Monsanto is attempting a public relations makeover. In recent months, Politico says the company has shaken up its senior public relations staff, upped its relationship with one of the nation’s largest public relations firms and helped launch a website designed to combat the fallacies surrounding genetically modified organisms – the main source of criticism against the seed company.

Another sign was a chief technology officer’s visit to Politico and other Washington, D.C.-area journals to “charm offensive” about Monsanto’s public image.

“We haven’t spent nearly the time we have needed to on talking to consumers and talking to social media and really intercepting this,” Monsanto Executive Vice President Robert Fraley told Politico. “There are loud voices on one end that don’t like the technology and there are people like myself on the other side that are advocates, and fortunately most of the people are in the middle. … I think there is an opportunity to reframe that conversation.”

Among the loud voices noted by Politico: Monsanto was declared “the most evil corporation of the year” in early 2011 by NaturalNews.com, and earlier this year the company confronted an international “March on Monsanto” Facebook campaign.

In spring 2011, local seed seller Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds joined the critics and were among a lawsuit against Monsanto. A federal court dismissed the suit last year and the growers’ group appealed.
 
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