Cato Institute

Cato Institute

The Cato Institute is a 'free-enterprise' think-tank run by members of the Republican Right in Washington DC - '22 years of promoting public policy based on individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace'.

'Junkman' Steve Milloy and Ronald Bailey are among Cato's 'adjunct fellows'.

In 2002 the Cato Institute published Bountiful Harvest: Technology, Food Safety, and the Environment by Thomas R. DeGregori. According to Cato, Bountiful Harbest 'debunks anti-science environmental activists, and lays out the case for employing modern technology in modern agriculture. DeGregori argues that innovations such as bioengineered foods have increased life expectancy, crop yields and generally improved human well-being.'

Cato's funders include American Farm Bureau Federation, Amoco, Exxon, Monsanto, National Ammonia Co., Philip Morris, Eli Lilly Endowment, Exxon, Liberty Fund, Pfizer Inc., Philip Morris, and Procter and Gamble. The biggest contributors though are foundations controlled by Cato board member David H. Koch and his brother, Charles Koch, Cato's founder. David and Charles Koch own Koch Industries, a conglomerate with major oil and gas holdings and the second-largest privately-held company in the United States. It is also the recipient of the civil fine ever imposed on a corporation for violating federal environmental laws..