Tell American Public Media to Stop Spreading Monsanto's Lies!

Use the form below to tell American Public Media, which produces the Marketplace program frequently aired on NPR, to stop taking Monsanto's money and spreading their lies.

Marketplace frequently runs ads by major underwriter Monsanto, like this one:

Marketplace is supported by Monsanto, committed to sustainable agriculture, creating hybrid and biotech seeds designed to increase crop yields and conserve natural resources. Learn more at ProduceMoreConserveMore.com.

It became obvious how Monsanto's money is biasing Marketplace's reporting on May 4, 2011, when the program broadcast a misleading story, "The Non-Organic Future," that sounded as if it was written by Monsanto itself.

Read the transcript and the comments.

Anna Lappe, a globally respected author on food issues, commented on the transcript of the story on the Marketplace website: "I appreciate many of the comments posted so far. I, too, was highly disappointed that this segment presented a contested position -- sustainable farming cannot feed the world -- as fact, when there is a growing global consensus that the opposite is true."

Please post your own comments and use the form below to send American Public Media a letter.

Subject:

Your Letter:

I listen to an NPR station that carries the program Marketplace, and I was troubled by the ads that Monsanto ran that said, "Marketplace is supported by Monsanto, committed to sustainable agriculture, creating hybrid and biotech seeds designed to increase crop yields and conserve natural resources. Learn more at ProduceMoreConserveMore.com."

Monsanto is committed to selling chemicals and patented seeds, not sustainable agriculture.

Herbicide use in the US was up 138 million pounds in the first nine years after Monsanto's Roundup Ready crops were introduced, and this increase is accelerating, with approximately 120 million more pounds used in years 10 and 11.

A report from Doug Gurian-Sherman of the Union of Concerned Scientists showed that transgenic herbicide-tolerant soybeans and corn have not increased operational yields. The study, called Failure to Yield, contradicts Monsanto's advertising campaign which claims that the company's genetically modified seeds increase crop yields.

American Public Media, which produces the Marketplace program, solicits the support of companies like Monsanto with the slogan, "Leverage our reputation. Magnify your reach."

Monsanto has clearly taken you up on your offer and, in doing so, has leveraged Marketplace's reputation for journalistic integrity.

It became obvious how Monsanto's money is biasing Marketplace's reporting on May 4, 2011, when the program broadcast a misleading story that sounded as if it was written by Monsanto itself:

The Non-Organic Future
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/05/04/pm-the-non-organic-future/

This is not journalism. This does not belong on public radio.

The piece begins by quoting demographic data from the United Nations and then goes on to uncritically report that organic agriculture cannot feed the world's growing population.

Too bad the Marketplace reporter didn't bother to look at a recent report from the United Nations showing that food production in poor countries could double in a decade if farms switched to organic ("agroecological") practices:

http://www.srfood.org/images/stories/pdf/officialreports/20110308_a-hrc-16-49_agroecology_en.pdf

The truth is, the only agricultural practice proven to sustainably increase crop yields while improving the soil's water-holding capacity is organic.

Please stop spreading Monsanto's lies through your advertising and reporting.

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