GMO Safety
The pro-GM website GMO Safety (www.gmosafety.eu) is organised by a project network of the biotech PR firm Genius, the web PR firm i-Bio Information Biowissenschaften (Transgen)[1] and (formerly) TÜV Nord.[2]
The GMO Safety website is sponsored by the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF)[3] and it emphasises this public funding by prominently displaying the Ministry's logo on the site. Indeed, superficially the site closely resembles an official medium of the Ministry, as can be seen by a comparison with the Ministry's own website[4]. It is only at the foot of the GMO Safety site in much smaller lettering that there is a link for copyright to the websites of the private PR companies, i-bio Information Biowissenschaften (Transgen) and Genius.[5]
A legal disclaimer, accessible via an equally small link at the foot of the GMO Safety site, distances the German ministry BMBF from the information put out on the GMO Safety site, saying: "The BMBF is not responsible for the information presented on GMO-Safety.eu."[6]
The legal disclaimer page goes on to say that, "The GMO-Safety.eu editorial team is independent and is not bound by any instructions"; but lists the GMO Safety Project Leader as:[7]
- Genius GmbH.
It lists the editorial staff as:
- Dr. Kristina Sinemus (Head of Project Network)[8] - she is also the CEO of Genius.[9]
- Dr. Klaus Minol (Assistant Project Management)[10] - he is also the Scientific Manager of Genius.[11]
- Gabriele Völcker, Dr. Barbara Löchte, Dr. Alexander Stein - all listed as employees of Genius.[12] Stein did his PhD at the University of Hohenheim. His thesis title was "Micronutrient malnutrition and the impact of modern plant breeding on public health in India: How cost-effective is biofortification?" His supervisor was the controversial pro-GM scientist Matin Qaim.[13]
GMO Safety publishes the results of BMBF projects and additional information on genetic engineering. It is very also active on Twitter where its Profile states that it is "managed by independent editors", without any reference being made to Genius. [14]
GMO Safety is supported by the EU project BIOSAFENET, which in turn is headed by Joachim Schiemann. BIOSAFENET announced in one of its conference advertising leaflets that it had given its "Active cooperation in the development and editing of GMO‐Safety, a comprehensive information platform for political representatives, stakeholders and the general public. GMO‐Safety, a project sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), offers multimedia material prepared by journalists on the goals and results of biosafety research."[15]
GMO Safety is also supported by International Society for Biosafety Research (ISBR). Klaus Minol of Genius is the contact person for BIOSAFENET and the results of this project are published on gmosafety.eu.
Notes
- ↑ Legal notice, GMO Safety website, acc 20 Jan 2011
- ↑ GMO-Safety.eu - Biosafety research made transparent, OpenPR website, acc 20 Jan 2011
- ↑ Home page, GMO Safety website, acc 20 Jan 2011
- ↑ Home page, BMBF website, acc 22 Jan 2011
- ↑ Home page, GMO Safety website, acc 20 Jan 2011
- ↑ Legal notice, GMO Safety website, acc 20 Jan 2011
- ↑ Legal notice, GMO Safety website, acc 20 Jan 2011
- ↑ Legal notice, GMO Safety website, acc 20 Jan 2011
- ↑ Company, Genius website, acc 20 Jan 2011
- ↑ Legal notice, GMO Safety website, acc 20 Jan 2011
- ↑ Company, Genius website, acc 20 Jan 2011
- ↑ Legal notice, GMO Safety website, acc 20 Jan 2011
- ↑ Alexander J Stein, curriculum vitae, acc 21 Jan 2011
- ↑ [1], Twitter Profile, acc 22 Jan 2011
- ↑ BIOSAFENET, How to strengthen the voice of biosafety research in the public debate on GM plants., BIOSAFENET final conference, 29 June 2009, Julius Kühn‐Institut, Berlin, Germany, acc 20 Jan 2011
