Corporate agendas exert a major influence over important areas of science-based policy, including support for a “new green economy.” An understanding of “who owns what” illuminates just who will benefit from “the new green economy” — and casts doubt that it will be either the public or the environment. Two new resources on BSR’s Biotechnology Resource Page, the full report entitled Who Will Control the Green Economy? (2011) by The ETC Group and “The Big Six: A Profile of Corporate Power in Seeds, Agrochemicals and Biotech” by Hope Shand in the Heritage Farm Companion, document the major players and discuss the research and policy implications of corporate control of industries including food and agriculture, energy, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals.
The third new Biotechnology resource, Underlying Reasons of the Controversy over Adverse Effects of Bt toxins on Lady Beetle and Lacewing Larvae (2012) by Hilbeck et al., discusses distortions to the scientific debate over Bt biosafety and describe protocols to ensure that scientific debate relies on rigorous discussion of high quality scientific research and not on faulty assumptions and personal attacks. Without such precautions, biosafety research can be manipulated to serve interests other than those of the public and will fail to safeguard human and environmental health.
