Spiked

Spiked is part of the libertarian anti-environmental LM network. It is an online magazine run by Times columnist Mick Hume. It claims to be 'entirely independent'. Spiked was launched in 2000 after the magazine Hume edited, LM, was terminated due to a successful libel lawsuit. Spiked's managing editor is Helene Guldberg, LM's ex-publisher. Her co-publisher, Claire Fox, launched Spiked's sister organisation, the Institute of Ideas (IoI) around the same time. The staff and many of Spiked's contributors are members of the same network of Living Marxism/Revolutionary Communist Party supporters.

Spiked has featured a number of pro-GM articles by Vivian Moses of CropGen and Thomas Deichmann, the person at the center of the notorious LM libel case. Spiked has also published a number of articles downplaying the hazards of pesticide residues in food which suggest that there is nothing to worry about. It has also published articles attacking organic food by Dennis Avery and Alex Avery of the Hudson Institute and Centre for Global Food Issues. ^[1]

Spiked has also run a series of online debates about the environment sponsored by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), a UK public funding body whose mission is to support independent scientific research in the environmental sciences. One of the series was a debate on GM ^[2]. It features the opinions of "five experts" (Les Firbank, Tony Gilland, Robin Grove-White, Gregory Conko and CS Prakash) together with three "Commissioned responses" from other "experts" (Alan Gray, John Conroy, and the Agricultural Biotechnology Council). Of these eight experts only one has been known to take a critical attitude towards the technology, and it would seem incompatible with NERC's aim to obtain "independent" and "impartial" input. However, when the history of those behind Spiked was brought to NERC's attention, Marion O'Sullivan, the Press Officer, replied that:

"NERC is satisfied that there is no evidence suggesting that, on environmental matters, Spiked have any particular agenda." (emphasis added) ^[3]

In fact, those behind Spiked are fanatically pro-GM and ignore or attack environmental concerns in almost any form. Two of the contributors to this debate on GM (John Conroy, Tony Gilland) are part of group behind Spiked, but their affiliation with the organization was not made public. Gilland's contribution, "Let the Sowing Begin", argued that:

The [GM] farm-scale trials are an unnecessary obstacle to the introduction of this beneficial technology.^[4]

The other experts commissioned by Spiked included the biotech industry lobby group, the Agricultural Biotechnology Council (ABC), and the pro-GM lobbyists Greg Conko and CS Prakash who have also previously written for Spiked^[5].

Members of the LM network are among those who post comments on the "debates", and these invariably support the "party line" but without revealing their affiliation. The same goes for other articles published by Spiked, many of which are penned by members of the LM network.

Besides its website, Spiked also organises seminars which draw well-known figures to events carefully designed to promote its own agenda. In March 2003, Spiked co-sponsored with International Policy Network (IPN) a seminar held at the London headquarters of PR firm Hill & Knowlton entitled: "'GM food: should labeling be mandatory?". ^[6] Spiked holds many of its seminars at Hill & Knowlton, an influential public relations company.

Principals

• Mick Hume – founder, editor
• Helene Guldberg – managing editor

Contributors

• Tracey Brown
• Greg Conko
• John Conroy
• Fiona Fox
• Thomas Deichmann
• Bill Durodie
• Michael Fitzpatrick
• Tony Gilland
• John Gillott
• Vivian Moses
• Channapatna S. Prakash
• Ellen Raphael
• Juliet Tizzard

Affiliations

• Agricultural Biotechnology Council
• Institute of Ideas
• IoD
• Living Marxism
• Revolutionary Communist Party
• Hill and Knowlton
• International Policy Network

Funding

Spiked state that current and former partners and sponsors include: Arts Council England Bloomberg British Association for the Advancement of Science British Council BT Cadbury Schweppes Cambridge University Press the Cheltenham Science Festival Colubris Networks the City of London Clarke Mulder Purdie Continuum International Publishing Group the Dana Centre the European Commission research project RightsWatch EuroScience Hill and Knowlton IBM INFORM the Institute for the International Education of Students the Institute of Psychiatry; International Policy Network Luther Pendragon the Medical Research Council the Mobile Operators Association the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts the Natural Environment Research Council; Orange; O2; Pfizer; the Royal Institution of Great Britain; the Social Issues Research Centre; the Society of Chemical Industry; TechCentralStation; University of East London; the Wellcome Trust.

Resources, references and contact

Contact

Website: www.spiked.org (Accessed 21 August 2007)

References

1. ^Alex Avery and Dennis Avery attacking organic food, Spiked, 5 September 2001 (Accessed 21 August 2007)
2. ^Spiked Science Debates: The Environment, Spiked, 16 Sept 2002 (Accessed 21 August 2007)
3. ^Why We Need GM - Sponsored by the Natural Environment Research Council, Norfolk Genetic Information Network, 18 September 2002. (Accessed 21 August 2007)
4. ^ Let the sowing begin, Spiked, 16 Sep 2002. (Accessed 21 August 2007)
5. ^ for example: Channapatna S Prakash, articles GM: past, present and future, Spiked, 16 August 2001. (Accessed 21 August 2007)
6. ^ 'GM food: should labeling be mandatory?', International Policy Network, 3 March 2003 (Not available on 21 August 2007 -- only available via Google cache of the copy on GMWatch)