GM Food, Ukraine and the Return of Hill + Knowlton
Monsanto and Ukraine
Finally,
a little-known aspect of the crisis in Ukraine is receiving some
international attention. On July 28, the California-based Oakland
Institute released a report revealing that the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), under terms of their $17 billion loan
to Ukraine, would open that country to genetically-modified (GM) crops
and genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture. The report is
entitled “Walking on the West Side: the World Bank and the IMF in the
Ukraine Conflict.” [1]
In
late 2013, the then president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, rejected a
European Union association agreement tied to the $17 billion IMF loan,
whose terms are only now being revealed. Instead, Yanukovych chose a
Russian aid package worth $15 billion plus a discount on Russian natural
gas. His decision was a major factor in the ensuing deadly protests
that led to his ouster from office in February 2014 and the ongoing
crisis.
According
to the Oakland Institute, “Whereas Ukraine does not allow the use of
genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture, Article 404 of the
EU agreement, which relates to agriculture, includes a clause that has
generally gone unnoticed: it indicates, among other things, that both
parties will cooperate to extend the use of biotechnologies. There is
no doubt that this provision meets the expectations of the agribusiness
industry. As observed by Michael Cox, research director at the
investment bank Piper Jaffray, ‘Ukraine and, to a wider extent, Eastern
Europe, are among the most promising growth markets for farm-equipment
giant Deere, as well as seed producers Monsanto and DuPont’.” [2]
Ukrainian
law bars farmers from growing GM crops. Long considered “the bread
basket of Europe,” Ukraine’s rich black soil is ideal for growing
grains, and in 2012 Ukrainian farmers harvested more than 20 million
tonnes of corn.
Monsanto’s Investment
In
May 2013, Monsanto announced plans to invest $140 million in a non-GMO
corn seed plant in Ukraine, with Monsanto Ukraine spokesman Vitally
Fechuk confirming that ‘We will be working with conventional seeds only”
because “in Ukraine only conventional seeds are allowed for production
and importation.” [3]
But
by November 2013, six large Ukrainian agriculture associations had
prepared draft amendments to the law, pushing for “creating, testing,
transportation and use of GMOs regarding the legalization of GM seeds.”
[4] The president of the Ukrainian Grain Association, Volodymyr
Klymenko, told a Nov. 5 press conference in Kiev that “We could mull
over this issue for a long time, but we, jointly with the [agricultural]
associations, have signed two letters to change the law on biosecurity,
in which we proposed the legalization of the use of GM seeds, which had
been tested in the United States for a long time, for our producers.”
(Actually, GM seeds and GMOs have never undergone independent, long-term
testing in the U.S.)
The
agricultural associations’ draft amendments coincided with the terms of
the EU association agreement and IMF/World Bank loan.
The website sustainablepulse.com
– which tracks GMO news worldwide – immediately slammed the
agricultural associations’ proposal, with director Henry Rowlands
stating: “Ukraine agriculture will be seriously damaged if the Ukrainian
government legally allows GM seeds in the country. Their farmers will
find their export markets reduced due to consumers’ anti-GMO sentiments
both in Russia and the EU.” Rowlands said that Monsanto’s investment in
Ukraine “could rise to $300 million within several years. Does
Ukrainian agriculture want to totally rely on the success or failure of
one U.S.-based company?” [5]
On
December 13, 2013, Monsanto’s Jesus Madrazo, Vice President of
Corporate Engagement, told the U.S.-Ukraine Conference in Washington,
D.C. that the company sees “the importance of creating a favorable
environment [in Ukraine] that encourages innovation and fosters the
continued development of agriculture. Ukraine has the opportunity to
further develop the potential of conventional crops, which is where we
are currently concentrating our efforts. We also hope that at some
point biotechnology is a tool that will be available to Ukrainian
farmers in the future.” [6]
Just
a few days before Madrazo’s remarks in Washington, Monsanto Ukraine had
launched its “social development” program for the country, called
“Grain Basket of the Future.” [7] It provides grants to rural villagers
so they can (in Monsanto’s words) “start feeling that they can improve
their situation themselves as opposed to waiting for a handout.”
Actually,
the real “handout” is the one going to Big U.S. Agribusiness through
the terms of the IMF/World Bank loan, which besides opening the country
to GM crops, will also further lift the ban on the sale of Ukraine’s
rich agricultural lands to the private sector. [8]
As
Morgan Williams, president and CEO of the U.S.-Ukraine Business
Council, told International Business Times in March, “Ukraine’s
agriculture could be a real gold mine.” [9] But he added that there are
“many aspects of the [Ukraine] business climate that need to be
changed. The major item would center around getting the government out
of business…”
The WikiLeaks Cables
In
August 2011, WikiLeaks released U.S. diplomatic cables showing that the
U.S. State Department has been lobbying worldwide for Monsanto and
other biotechnology corporations like DuPont, Syngenta, Bayer and Dow.
The U.S. non-profit Food & Water Watch, after combing through five
years of these cables (2005-2009), released its report entitled “Biotech
Ambassadors: How the U.S. State Department Promotes the Seed Industry’s
Global Agenda” on May 14, 2013. [10] The report showed the U.S. State
Department has “lobbied foreign governments to adopt pro-agricultural
biotechnology policies and laws, operated a rigorous public relations
campaign to improve the image of biotechnology, and challenged
commonsense biotechnology safeguards and rules – even including opposing
laws requiring the labeling of genetically-engineered (GE) foods.”
According to consortiumnews.com
(March 16, 2014), Morgan Williams is at the nexus of Big Ag’s alliance
with U.S. foreign policy.” [11] Besides being president and CEO of the
U.S.-Ukraine Business Council, Williams is Director of Government
Affairs at private equity firm SigmaBleyzer, which touts Williams’ work
with “various agencies of the U.S. government, members of Congress,
congressional committees, the Embassy of Ukraine to the U.S.,
international financial institutions, think tanks and other
organizations on U.S.-Ukraine business, trade, investment and economic
development issues.”
The
U.S.-Ukraine Business Council’s 16-member Executive Committee is packed
with U.S. agribusiness companies, including representatives from
Monsanto, John Deere, DuPont Pioneer, Eli Lilly, and Cargill. [12] The
Council’s twenty “senior Advisors” include James Greene (Former Head of
NATO Liason Office Ukraine); Ariel Cohen (Senior Research Fellow for The
Heritage Foundation); Leonid Kozachenko (President of the Ukrainian
Agrarian Confederation); six former U.S. Ambassadors to Ukraine, and the
former ambassador of Ukraine to the U.S., Oleh Shamshur.
Shamshur
is now a senior advisor to PBN Hill + Knowlton Strategies – a unit of
PR giant Hill + Knowlton Strategies (H+K). H + K is a subsidiary of the
gargantuan London-based WPP Group, which owns some dozen big PR firms,
including Burson-Marsteller (a long-time Monsanto advisor).
Hill + Knowlton Strategies
On
April 15, 2014 Toronto’s The Globe & Mail newspaper published an
op-ed piece by H+K assistant consultant Olga Radchenko, [13] The piece
railed against Russian President Vladimir Putin and “Mr. Putin’s PR
machine” and stated that “Last month [March 2014 - a month after the
coup], a group of Kiev-based PR professionals formed the Ukraine Crisis
Media Centre, a voluntary operation aimed at helping to communicate
Ukraine’s image and manage its messaging on the global stage.”
The
PBN Hill + Knowlton Strategies website states that the company’s CEO
Myron Wasylyk is “a Board member of the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council,”
and the company’s Managing Director/Ukraine, Oksana Monastyrska, “leads
the firm’s work for Monsanto.” Monastyrska also formerly worked for the
World Bank’s International Finance Corporation.
According
to the Oakland Institute, the terms of the World Bank/IMF loan to
Ukraine have already led to “an increase in foreign investment, which is
likely to result in further expansion of large-scale acquisitions of
agricultural land by foreign companies and further corporatization of
agriculture in the country.” [14]
Meanwhile,
Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev stated in April: “We don’t
have a goal of developing GM products here or to import them. We can
feed ourselves with normal, common, not genetically modified products.
If the Americans like to eat such products, let them eat them. We don’t
need to do that; we have enough space and opportunities to produce
organic food.” [15]
Hill
+ Knowlton, with its Kuwait “incubator babies atrocities” falsehood,
was instrumental in getting the American public to back the first Gulf
War on Iraq in the early 1990s. Now the company is involved in
fomenting a Cold War 2 or worse, and on behalf of Monsanto – recently
voted the “most evil” corporation on the planet. That’s something to
recall in the midst of the extensive mainstream media demonizing of
Putin.
Joyce Nelson is an award-winning Canadian freelance writer/researcher and the author of five books, including Sultans of Sleaze: PR & the Media.
Footnotes
[2] Ibid.
[3] Reuters, “Monsanto plans $140 ml Ukraine non-GM corn seed plant,” May 24, 2013.
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