A new investigation carried out by French media Le Monde and France 2 has revealed that the multinational Monsanto has secretly carried out a mapping exercise of influential public figures, including politicians, journalists and scientists on their views on glyphosate.
Several Green politicians, including MEPs Yannick Jadot and Michèle Rivasi and co-president of the Green Group in the European Parliament, Philippe Lamberts, also featured on the list dating back to 2016 compiled by the consultancy firm Fleishman-Hillard on behalf of Monsanto. For the French Greens Europe Écologie – Les Verts (EELV) the results are worrying enough to initiate judicial procedures.
“People are utterly fed up with these kind of devious tactics deployed by big multinationals. Not only are they totally unethical but illegal. The manipulation of people’s opinions on a massive scale puts at risk the fundamentals of our democracy. Monsanto cannot be allowed to get away with this and must be brought to justice. That is why we will be initiating legal proceedings against Monsanto so this can be investigated in a court of law,” said the leading candidate of the French Greens Europe Écologie – Les Verts (EELV) Yannick Jadot.
“Monsanto has already shown that it has zero scruples when it comes to health and safety by selling products containing potentially lethal chemicals. Now it has proved it has a complete disregard for democracy too. Corporate profit margins can never warrant prying into people’s private lives. The findings of Le Monde and France 2 fully justify launching a full judicial investigation. If Monsanto’s aggressive corporate lobbying is proven to constitute a crime, it must be punished with the full force of the law,” said the European Green Party co-leading candidate MEP Bas Eickhout.
