Watch List.

Monsanto Is Contacting the Journalists, Activists It Tracked on ‘Watch Lists’ in 7 Countries

An international group of journalists, politicians and activists whose information, including their views on pesticides, was tracked by the agribusiness giant, and placed on ‘watch lists’ by the company, were informed of the company’s surveillance activities, Monsanto’s parent company Bayer has announced.

June 18, 2019 | Source: KSRO | by

Agriculture conglomerate Monsanto has started contacting journalists, politicians and activists it was keeping tabs on and documenting via “watch lists,” its parent company Bayer announced this week.

An international group of journalists, politicians and activists whose information, including their views on pesticides, was tracked by the agribusiness giant, and placed on ‘watch lists’ by the company, were informed of the company’s surveillance activities, Monsanto’s parent company Bayer has announced.

Bayer disclosed details on Monday about the “watch lists” as part of a widening probe into the company’s practice of keeping tabs on people who it perceived as critics or supporters of the company’s products, amid global efforts to rehabilitate its reputation.

In May, Bayer disclosed that FleishmanHillard, an outside public relations firm hired by Monsanto before Bayer acquired the fertilizer maker, had drawn up lists of “stakeholders in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and United Kingdom” according to a statement released by the company . It described the stakeholders as “journalists, politicians and other interest groups” who had a position on pesticides.