Robert Paarlberg - Revision history

Claire Robinson: /* Gates Foundation */

2010-10-09T13:00:33Z

Gates Foundation

Claire Robinson at 15:18, 10 October 2009

2009-10-10T15:18:03Z

Claire Robinson at 15:26, 13 August 2009

2009-08-13T15:26:30Z

Claire Robinson: /* Hyping GM for Africa */

2009-08-13T15:16:08Z

Hyping GM for Africa

Jonathan Matthews at 12:01, 21 April 2009

2009-04-21T12:01:16Z

Claire Robinson: /* Hyping GM for Africa */

2009-01-29T17:29:00Z

Hyping GM for Africa

Claire Robinson: /* Gates Foundation */

2009-01-29T17:26:02Z

Gates Foundation

Claire Robinson: /* Gates Foundation */

2009-01-20T13:46:51Z

Gates Foundation

Claire Robinson: /* Gates Foundation */

2009-01-20T13:44:16Z

Gates Foundation

Claire Robinson at 13:42, 20 January 2009

2009-01-20T13:42:38Z

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 ==Gates Foundation==
-According to his Wellesley College profile, Paarlberg has "recently completed major studies of regional policy harmonization toward biotechnology in eastern and southern Africa, for the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) on the politics of accepting biofortified food crops in developing countries, commissioned by the [[Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation]]."<ref>"[http://www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Profile/mr/rpaarlberg.html Robert Paarlberg]", Wellesley College website, accessed January 2009</ref>
+According to his Wellesley College profile, Paarlberg has "recently completed major studies of regional policy harmonization toward biotechnology in eastern and southern Africa, for the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) on the politics of accepting biofortified food crops in developing countries, commissioned by the [[Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation]]."<ref>"[http://www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Profile/mr/rpaarlberg.html Robert Paarlberg]", Wellesley College website, accessed January 2009</ref>
 Paarlberg's role as Monsanto CEO's Advisor would seem to tie in very neatly with the 2009 $5.4 million award<ref>Eric Hand, "[http://www.danforthcenter.org/newsmedia/NewsCoverageDetail.asp?nid=116 Gates Foundation taps a second St. Louisan]", St Louis Post-Dispatch, 5 January 2007</ref><ref>Evan Binns, "[http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2008/12/22/story11.html?surround=etf&b=1229922000^1750290 Danforth Center teams with Gates]", St Louis Business Journal, 19 December 2008</ref> by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the heavily Monsanto-funded Danforth Center<ref>"[http://www.danforthcenter.org/about/partners.asp Partners]", Donald Danforth Plant Science Center website, accessed January 2009.</ref>. An article in the St Louis-Post Dispatch, Monsanto's home-town newspaper, baldly says that the Gates money will go towards getting round Africa's GM regulations: "The $5.4 million will go to developing the crops in the field, to safety assessments and overcoming regulatory hurdles" to the adoption of GM biofortified food crops in Africa.<ref>Georgina Gustin, "[http://www.truthabouttrade.org/content/view/13106/54/ Gates grant will help Danforth Center fight hunger]", St Louis Post-Dispatch, 7 January 2009, accessed January 2009.</ref>

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:18, 10 October 2009
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	:In its narrow focus, ''Starved for Science'' dismisses a slew of scientifically validated approaches to agriculture, including integrated pest and soil-fertility management, 'low-input' techniques that reduce reliance on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and even other forms of biotechnology. Yet such methods have performed well in African contexts.<ref>Ian Scoones and Dominic Glover, [http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11409:fricas-biotechnology-battle Africa's biotechnology battle], Nature 460, 797-798 (13 August 2009) doi:10.1038/460797a; Published online 12 August 2009</ref>		:In its narrow focus, ''Starved for Science'' dismisses a slew of scientifically validated approaches to agriculture, including integrated pest and soil-fertility management, 'low-input' techniques that reduce reliance on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and even other forms of biotechnology. Yet such methods have performed well in African contexts.<ref>Ian Scoones and Dominic Glover, [http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11409:fricas-biotechnology-battle Africa's biotechnology battle], Nature 460, 797-798 (13 August 2009) doi:10.1038/460797a; Published online 12 August 2009</ref>
		+
		+	==Paarlberg's sin is over-confidence in the new – reviewer==
		+	In a review of Paarlberg's book ''Starved for Science'' for nonprofit news agency, the South African Civil Society Information Service, Saliem Fakir writes:
		+	:This is Robert Paarlberg’s sin: The absolute confidence, the over-enthusiasm that alternatives or older agricultural sciences must give way to the power of the new. Paarlberg traps himself in a strange and circular logic... He says others shouldn't speak on behalf of Africans but he nominates himself as a spokesperson for the technology-fix saviours.<ref>Saliem Fakir, [http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/11570-does-africa-really-need-gm-for-development Does Africa Really Need Biotechnology for Agricultural Development?], SACSIS (South Africa), 5 October 2009, accessed 10 October 2009</ref>

	==Gates Foundation==		==Gates Foundation==

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:26, 13 August 2009
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	Paarlberg, however, is unwilling to acknowledge this science-based revolution, preferring instead to promote GM's unproven silver bullets. And the Voice of America fails to mention that Paarlberg is "a member of the [[Biotechnology Advisory Council]] to the CEO of the [[Monsanto]] Company."<ref>Interestingly, this factoid has disappeared from the most recent [http://www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Profile/mr/rpaarlberg.html incarnation] of the Wellesley College website, accessed January 2009. But it can be seen in an [http://web.archive.org/web/20070209103257/http://www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Profile/mr/rpaarlberg.html archived version], updated 6 December 2006.</ref>		Paarlberg, however, is unwilling to acknowledge this science-based revolution, preferring instead to promote GM's unproven silver bullets. And the Voice of America fails to mention that Paarlberg is "a member of the [[Biotechnology Advisory Council]] to the CEO of the [[Monsanto]] Company."<ref>Interestingly, this factoid has disappeared from the most recent [http://www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Profile/mr/rpaarlberg.html incarnation] of the Wellesley College website, accessed January 2009. But it can be seen in an [http://web.archive.org/web/20070209103257/http://www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Profile/mr/rpaarlberg.html archived version], updated 6 December 2006.</ref>
		+
		+	==Review in Nature journal of Starved for Science==
		+	In August 2009 the journal Nature published a measured review by two development specialists of Robert Parlberg's polemic ''Starved for Science'', a book which essentially claims Northern NGOs are starving Africans of life-saving GM crops.
		+
		+	The reviewers, Ian Scoones and Dominic Glover, comment:
		+
		+	:In its narrow focus, ''Starved for Science'' dismisses a slew of scientifically validated approaches to agriculture, including integrated pest and soil-fertility management, 'low-input' techniques that reduce reliance on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and even other forms of biotechnology. Yet such methods have performed well in African contexts.<ref>Ian Scoones and Dominic Glover, [http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11409:fricas-biotechnology-battle Africa's biotechnology battle], Nature 460, 797-798 (13 August 2009) doi:10.1038/460797a; Published online 12 August 2009</ref>

	==Gates Foundation==		==Gates Foundation==

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 ==Hyping GM for Africa==
-Paarlberg's book, ''Starved for Science: How Biotechnology Is Being Kept Out of Africa'' (Harvard University Press, March 2008), claims that poor African farmers are denied access to productive technologies, particularly GM seeds, which he says offer improved resistance to insects and drought.<ref>"[http://www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Profile/mr/rpaarlberg.html Robert Paarlberg]", Wellesley College website, accessed January 2009</ref>
+Paarlberg's book, ''Starved for Science: How Biotechnology Is Being Kept Out of Africa'' (Harvard University Press, March 2008), claims that poor African farmers are denied access to productive technologies, particularly GM seeds, which he says offer improved resistance to insects and drought. He claims that Northern NGOs are responsible for depriving Africa of GM crops out of ideological resistance to the technology.<ref>"[http://www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Profile/mr/rpaarlberg.html Robert Paarlberg]", Wellesley College website, accessed January 2009</ref>
 This is in spite of the fact that as of 2009, GM companies have patented plant genes involved in tolerance to drought, heat, flooding, and salinity — but have not produced a single new crop with these properties. This is because these functions are highly complex and involve many different genes working together in a precise way. It is beyond existing GM technology to engineer crops with these sophisticated gene networks for improved tolerance traits.
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 :Low-tech 'sustainable agriculture', shunning chemicals in favour of natural pest control and fertiliser, is pushing up crop yields on poor farms across the world, often by 70 per cent or more... The findings will make sobering reading for people convinced that only genetically modified crops can feed the planet's hungry in the 21st century... A new science-based revolution is gaining strength built on real research into what works best on the small farms where a billion or more of the world's hungry live and work... It is time for the major agricultural research centres and their funding agencies to join the revolution.<ref>Editorial, "[http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg16922760.200-the-greener- The greener revolution]", New Scientist, 3 February 2001, accessed January 2009.</ref>
 Paarlberg, however, is unwilling to acknowledge this science-based revolution, preferring instead to promote GM's unproven silver bullets. And the Voice of America fails to mention that Paarlberg is "a member of the [[Biotechnology Advisory Council]] to the CEO of the [[Monsanto]] Company."<ref>Interestingly, this factoid has disappeared from the most recent [http://www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Profile/mr/rpaarlberg.html incarnation] of the Wellesley College website, accessed January 2009. But it can be seen in an [http://web.archive.org/web/20070209103257/http://www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Profile/mr/rpaarlberg.html archived version], updated 6 December 2006.</ref>
 ==Gates Foundation==

@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 :Low-tech 'sustainable agriculture', shunning chemicals in favour of natural pest control and fertiliser, is pushing up crop yields on poor farms across the world, often by 70 per cent or more... The findings will make sobering reading for people convinced that only genetically modified crops can feed the planet's hungry in the 21st century... A new science-based revolution is gaining strength built on real research into what works best on the small farms where a billion or more of the world's hungry live and work... It is time for the major agricultural research centres and their funding agencies to join the revolution.<ref>Editorial, "[http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg16922760.200-the-greener- The greener revolution]", New Scientist, 3 February 2001, accessed January 2009.</ref>
-Paarlberg, however, is unwilling to acknowledge this science-based revolution, preferring instead to promote GM's unproven silver bullets. Curious, incidentally, that the Voice of America fails to mention that Paarlberg is "a member of the [[Biotechnology Advisory Council]] to the CEO of the [[Monsanto]] Company."<ref>Interestingly, this factoid has disappeared from the most recent [http://www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Profile/mr/rpaarlberg.html incarnation] of the Wellesley College website, accessed January 2009. But it can be seen in an [http://web.archive.org/web/20070209103257/http://www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Profile/mr/rpaarlberg.html archived version], updated 6 December 2006.</ref> Perhaps he forgot to tell them.
+Paarlberg, however, is unwilling to acknowledge this science-based revolution, preferring instead to promote GM's unproven silver bullets. And the Voice of America fails to mention that Paarlberg is "a member of the [[Biotechnology Advisory Council]] to the CEO of the [[Monsanto]] Company."<ref>Interestingly, this factoid has disappeared from the most recent [http://www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Profile/mr/rpaarlberg.html incarnation] of the Wellesley College website, accessed January 2009. But it can be seen in an [http://web.archive.org/web/20070209103257/http://www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Profile/mr/rpaarlberg.html archived version], updated 6 December 2006.</ref>
 ==Gates Foundation==
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 ==Biographical information==
-Robert Paarlberg is the Betty Freyhof Johnson Class of 1944 Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College and Associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. He received his B.A. in government from Carleton College in Minnesota and his Ph.D. in government from Harvard. He has served as visiting professor of government at Harvard, as a legislative aide in the U.S. Senate, and as an officer in the U.S. Naval Intelligence Command. Paarlberg's principal research interests are international agricultural and environmental policy.
+Robert Paarlberg is the Betty F. Johnson Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College and a Visiting Professor of Government at Harvard University. He received his B.A. in government from Carleton College in Minnesota and his Ph.D. at Harvard. He has served as a legislative aide in the U.S. Senate, and as an officer in the U.S. Naval Intelligence Command. Paarlberg's principal research interests are international agricultural and environmental policy.
-Paarlberg is  a member of the [[Emerging Markets Advisory Committee]] at the United States Department of Agriculture, and a consultant to [[USAID]], the [[World Bank]] and the [[National Intelligence Council]] (NIC) - the centre for midterm and long-term strategic thinking within the United States Intelligence Community.<ref>"[http://www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Profile/mr/rpaarlberg.html Robert Paarlberg]", Wellesley College website, accessed January 2009</ref>
+Paarlberg is  a member of the [[Emerging Markets Advisory Committee]] at the United States Department of Agriculture, and has been a consultant to [[USAID]], the [[World Bank]] and the [[National Intelligence Council]] (NIC) - the centre for midterm and long-term strategic thinking within the United States Intelligence Community.<ref>"[http://www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Profile/mr/rpaarlberg.html Robert Paarlberg]", Wellesley College website, accessed January 2009</ref>
 ==Affiliations==

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 An article for [[Voice of America]], "US Academic makes Fiery Argument for Africa to Embrace Biotechnology", punts Paarlberg's book, ''Starved for Science''.<ref>Darren Taylor, "[http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/US-Academic-makes-Fiery-Argument-for-Africa-to-Embrace-Biotechnology-PART-2-of-5.cfm US Academic makes Fiery Argument for Africa to Embrace Biotechnology]", Voice of America, 15 January 2009, accessed January 2009.</ref> In the article, Paarlberg is cited as blaming activists in rich countries for inadvertently denying "improved agricultural techniques" (read: GM) to millions of poor farmers in Africa. Paarlberg says there’s no “scientific evidence” of health risks posed by GMOs – ignoring the large body of evidence that has accumulated showing such risks.<ref>Some such studies are referenced at "[http://www.bangmfood.org/publications/4-short-leaflets/1-genetically-modified-gm-foods-renewed-threat-to-europe Genetically modified (GM) foods - renewed threat to Europe]" banGMfood website, accessed January 2009.</ref> As a result of what he calls a “misinformed” anti-GM movement, he says crops that could eventually allow Africa to feed itself are being kept out of the continent.<ref>Darren Taylor, "[http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/US-Academic-makes-Fiery-Argument-for-Africa-to-Embrace-Biotechnology-PART-2-of-5.cfm US Academic makes Fiery Argument for Africa to Embrace Biotechnology]", Voice of America, 15 January 2009, accessed January 2009.</ref>
-Paarlberg does acknowledge that "foods derived from genetically engineered seeds don't look any better or taste any better or store any longer or prepare any better; they're not any more nutritious and they're not noticeably cheaper." But he "repeatedly emphasizes that the chief benefit of GM technology for Africa is the production of more food."<ref>Darren Taylor, "[http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/US-Academic-makes-Fiery-Argument-for-Africa-to-Embrace-Biotechnology-PART-2-of-5.cfm US Academic makes Fiery Argument for Africa to Embrace Biotechnology]", Voice of America, 15 January 2009, accessed January 2009.</ref>
+Paarlberg does acknowledge that
 The problem with this is that there isn't any convincing evidence that GM crops do, in general, produce more food, let alone that they would in the particular circumstances of Africa. As the 2500-page IAASTD report, based on peer reviewed publications, noted, yield gains in GM crops are "highly variable" and in some cases, "yields declined". That's why the report concluded GM was not essential to meeting the problems of food security.<ref>International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development: Global Summary for Decision Makers (IAASTD); Beintema, N. et al., 2008.</ref>
@@ Line 19: / Line 25: @@
 Meanwhile, as the IAASTD report notes, innovative IPM (integrated pest management)/agroecological approaches have proven highly successful in Africa. The IAASTD report says that they can deliver effective crop protection and pesticide reduction and yield advantages. In fact, their yield advantages have been particularly strong in the developing world, increasing productivity for poor farmers while enhancing sustainability. The IAASTD report also says that the community-wide economic, social, health and environmental benefits of these approaches have been widely documented.<ref>International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development: Global Summary for Decision Makers (IAASTD); Beintema, N. et al., 2008.</ref>
-After the publication of one study looking at a large number of projects in the developing world, ''New Scientist'' commented, "Low-tech 'sustainable agriculture', shunning chemicals in favour of natural pest control and fertiliser, is pushing up crop yields on poor farms across the world, often by 70 per cent or more... The findings will make sobering reading for people convinced that only genetically modified crops can feed the planet's hungry in the 21st century... A new science-based revolution is gaining strength built on real research into what works best on the small farms where a billion or more of the world's hungry live and work... It is time for the major agricultural research centres and their funding agencies to join the revolution."<ref>Editorial, "[http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg16922760.200-the-greener- The greener revolution]", New Scientist, 3 February 2001, accessed January 2009.</ref>
+After the publication of one study looking at a large number of projects in the developing world, ''New Scientist'' commented:
 Paarlberg, however, is unwilling to acknowledge this science-based revolution, preferring instead to promote GM's unproven silver bullets. Curious, incidentally, that the Voice of America fails to mention that Paarlberg is "a member of the [[Biotechnology Advisory Council]] to the CEO of the [[Monsanto]] Company."<ref>Interestingly, this factoid has disappeared from the most recent [http://www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Profile/mr/rpaarlberg.html incarnation] of the Wellesley College website, accessed January 2009. But it can be seen in an [http://web.archive.org/web/20070209103257/http://www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Profile/mr/rpaarlberg.html archived version], updated 6 December 2006.</ref> Perhaps he forgot to tell them.

@@ Line 27: / Line 27: @@
 According to his Wellesley College profile, Paarlberg has "recently completed major studies of regional policy harmonization toward biotechnology in eastern and southern Africa, for the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) on the politics of accepting biofortified food crops in developing countries, commissioned by the [[Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation]]."<ref>"[http://www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Profile/mr/rpaarlberg.html Robert Paarlberg]", Wellesley College website, accessed January 2009</ref>
-Paarlberg's role as Monsanto CEO's Advisor would seem to tie in very neatly with the 2009 $5.4 million award<ref>Eric Hand, "[Gates Foundation taps a second St. Louisan]", St Louis Post-Dispatch, 5 January 2007</ref><ref>Evan Binns, "[http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2008/12/22/story11.html?surround=etf&b=1229922000^1750290 Danforth Center teams with Gates]", St Louis Business Journal, 19 December 2008</ref> by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the heavily Monsanto-funded Danforth Center<ref>"[http://www.danforthcenter.org/about/partners.asp Partners]", Donald Danforth Plant Science Center website, accessed January 2009.</ref>. An article in the St Louis-Post Dispatch, Monsanto's home-town newspaper, baldly says that the Gates money will go towards getting round Africa's GM regulations: "The $5.4 million will go to developing the crops in the field, to safety assessments and overcoming regulatory hurdles" to the adoption of GM biofortified food crops in Africa.<ref>Georgina Gustin, "[http://www.truthabouttrade.org/content/view/13106/54/ Gates grant will help Danforth Center fight hunger]", St Louis Post-Dispatch, 7 January 2009, accessed January 2009.</ref>
+Paarlberg's role as Monsanto CEO's Advisor would seem to tie in very neatly with the 2009 $5.4 million award<ref>Eric Hand, "[http://www.danforthcenter.org/newsmedia/NewsCoverageDetail.asp?nid=116 Gates Foundation taps a second St. Louisan]", St Louis Post-Dispatch, 5 January 2007</ref><ref>Evan Binns, "[http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2008/12/22/story11.html?surround=etf&b=1229922000^1750290 Danforth Center teams with Gates]", St Louis Business Journal, 19 December 2008</ref> by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the heavily Monsanto-funded Danforth Center<ref>"[http://www.danforthcenter.org/about/partners.asp Partners]", Donald Danforth Plant Science Center website, accessed January 2009.</ref>. An article in the St Louis-Post Dispatch, Monsanto's home-town newspaper, baldly says that the Gates money will go towards getting round Africa's GM regulations: "The $5.4 million will go to developing the crops in the field, to safety assessments and overcoming regulatory hurdles" to the adoption of GM biofortified food crops in Africa.<ref>Georgina Gustin, "[http://www.truthabouttrade.org/content/view/13106/54/ Gates grant will help Danforth Center fight hunger]", St Louis Post-Dispatch, 7 January 2009, accessed January 2009.</ref>
 It should not be forgotten, of course, that [[Rob Horsch]], a senior Monsanto executive, is now part of the Gates Foundation, as is [[Lawrence Kent]] of the Monsanto-funded [[Donald Danforth Plant Science Center]]. Both Horsch and Kent are working for Gates on the funding of projects aimed at the developing world.<ref>Rachel Melcer, "[http://www.danforthcenter.org/newsmedia/NewsCoverageDetail.asp?nid=107 Scientist to humanitarian]", St Louis Post-Dispatch, 26 November 2006, accessed January 2009.</ref>

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 It should not be forgotten, of course, that [[Rob Horsch]], a senior Monsanto executive, is now part of the Gates Foundation, as is [[Lawrence Kent]] of the Monsanto-funded [[Donald Danforth Plant Science Center]]. Both Horsch and Kent are working for Gates on the funding of projects aimed at the developing world.<ref>Rachel Melcer, "[http://www.danforthcenter.org/newsmedia/NewsCoverageDetail.asp?nid=107 Scientist to humanitarian]", St Louis Post-Dispatch, 26 November 2006, accessed January 2009.</ref>
-The Danforth Center's president, [[Roger Beachy]], said of their appointment that it wouldn't hurt to have two people familiar with St. Louis researchers holding the strings to the Gates Foundation's large purse.<ref>Eric Hand, "[Gates Foundation taps a second St. Louisan]", St Louis Post-Dispatch, 5 January 2007</ref>
+The Danforth Center's president, [[Roger Beachy]], said of their appointment that it "won't hurt to have two people familiar with St. Louis researchers holding the strings to the Gates Foundation's large purse".<ref>Eric Hand, "[http://www.danforthcenter.org/newsmedia/NewsCoverageDetail.asp?nid=116 Gates Foundation taps a second St. Louisan]", St Louis Post-Dispatch, 5 January 2007, accessed January 2009.</ref>
 ==Biographical information==

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−	[[Category:GM]][[Category:Pro-GM Lobbyists]][[Category:Third World Lobbyists (GM)]]	+	[[Category:GM\|Paarlberg, Robert]][[Category:Pro-GM Lobbyists\|Paarlberg, Robert]][[Category:Third World Lobbyists (GM)\|Paarlberg, Robert]]