Greenpeace Wheat Propaganda – Nothing More Than Fiction

    7 July 2011

    Greenpeace have today proven they are nothing more than a deceiving multinational propaganda machine with the release of their pamphlet attempting to demonise the Australian wheat industry. This is the start of a shameless and inappropriate attack against Australian food producers and scientists.

    CropLife Australia Chief Executive Officer Matthew Cossey today said “This report insults the intelligence of Australians. For a multinational lobby group to attack the CSIRO is galling, but their ‘let them eat cake’ attitude to world food security issues is even more appalling”.

    “The intellectually weak propaganda pamphlet entitled “Australia’s wheat scandal”, released today misrepresents modern crop breeding so extensively that it should be regarded as nothing more than fiction”.

    “The pamphlet perpetuates half truths and complete falsehoods about GM crops in an appalling attempt to damage the integrity of Australian research institutions, companies and famers who are working tirelessly to produce the crops needed to meet future global food needs”.

    “It is completely hypocritical that Greenpeace continue to be science deniers when it comes to food production, while religiously advocating the primacy of science in discussions on climate change. The inconvenient truth for Greenpeace is that GM crops are safe and are a crucial agricultural tool in addressing global food security, and farmers want to use them”, Mr Cossey said.

    “The Australian plant science industry is dedicated to the scientific assessment of risks, whatever the issue.

    CropLife’s member companies are built on sound science and they rely on science daily to inform their decisions”.

    “The studies that Greenpeace relies upon are unscientific political propaganda tools. While highly regarded scientific bodies such as the Australian Academy of Science and the World Health Organization have confirmed the safety of foods produced from GM crops, Greenpeace ignores these organisations and instead relies on a small bunch of fearmongerers and pseudo scientists”.

    “It really is time for some serious questions to be asked about Greenpeace’s motivations in their campaign against GM crops”.

    “GM crops have demonstrated over the last 15 years that they improve the on-farm environment while reducing the pressure to convert wilderness areas to farmland. For example, GM crops dramatically reduced the carbon footprint of agriculture by 18 billion kg in 2009 – equivalent to removing 8 million cars from the road for a year”.

    “Why is Greenpeace opposed to a technology that is so good for the environment”?

    “It may help us understand their motivations better if Greenpeace were to come clean about which companies and organisations are funding this very well resourced international campaign”.

    “CropLife understands that increased food production on its own will not address all of the world’s food security issues. Ensuring global food security will require a multi-faceted approach across a range of sectors, including using modern agricultural tools to increase production”.

    “It will not be achieved through baseless attacks on Australian scientists or by exclusively relying on outdated methods of farming”, Mr Cossey concluded.

    Greenpeace Wheat Propanda Nothing More Than Fiction.pdf