Stacy Malkan of U.S. Right to Know reports:

“As pressure mounted in the European Union to ban glyphosate in the wake of the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) 2015 cancer report, members of a new group called Freedom to Farm began appearing at agricultural events and farmers’ markets across Europe. Marketing itself as a grassroots effort led by farmers, the group warned of the ‘threat to farming’ posed by restricting the use of glyphosate. But Freedom to Farm was not the grassroots uprising it purported to be. Monsanto’s name did not appear anywhere on Freedom to Farm materials, yet the operation was fully staffed and supported by PR firms working for the company. An ‘intelligence report’ prepared for Monsanto by the PR firm FleishmanHillard, reveals the scope of the operation: 39.5 full-time equivalent staff from four PR firms were promoting ‘Freedom to Farm’ in seven countries. And that was not all: ‘In addition to the campaign team,’ the report noted, ’56 trained operatives are supporting the on-site recruiting process for grassroots.’”

Meet the Merchants of Poison: The Front Groups, Spin Groups, PR Partners Pesticide Companies Use To Defend Glyphosate