Bernama

U.S. Groups Funding Disinformation Campaign In Malaysia

Malaysian anti-biotechnology groups are being funded by American radical environmentalists, according to preliminary results of an investigation conducted by the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) in Australia.

IPA's month-long investigation was initiated after a number of leading biotechnology scientists such as Professor C.S. Prakash, a regular visitor to Malaysia, expressed concern over the funding sources of the well-funded disinformation campaign being waged against biotechnology in countries such as Malaysia.

The Melbourne-based IPA is Australia's leading public policy think-tank which has a long interest in economic development.

According to IPA's lead researcher, Don D'Cruz, the scientists could not understand 'who could and would want to fund a scare campaign of lies' about something that has the potential to help so many people.

"Unlike some other environmental issues, there's no division in the scientific community about the safety and potential of biotechnology," he said in a statement to Bernama.

Malaysian-born D'Cruz, 32, spent a month in the United States following the money trail. His research showed that the California-based Foundation for Deep Ecology had, according to its 1999 tax returns, paid two grants totalling US$75,000 to the Consumers Association of Penang (CAP).

The same tax returns also showed that CAP was paid an additional US$125,000 on Feb 17, 1998 and US$150,000 on April 11, 1997 for purposes of supporting another anti-biotech non-governmental organisation (NGO), the Third World Network.

The Foundation for Deep Ecology was founded by eccentric American clothing magnate (Espirit and Patagonia) Douglas Tompkins, who subscribes to a radical green philosophy, which opposes not just genetically modified organisms but also modern industrial agriculture that emerged from the Green Revolution.

"During the 1960s and 1970s, the Green Revolution helped Malaysia achieve self-sufficiency in rice production and a number of other areas which it could never have achieved without such advances," D'Cruz said.

According to IPA, the CAP, the Third World Network and a third anti-biotech NGO, the Pesticide Action Network, all occupy the same offices in Penang and have run a coordinated campaign against the introduction of genetically modified foods, despite strong government, scientific and commercial support.

D'Cruz said these revelations raised very real questions about whether these NGOs were representing the interests of Malaysians, as they often claim, or whether they were simply doing the bidding of their wealthy American paymasters.

"In view of the immense benefits of biotechnology to Malaysians and the Malaysian economy and, the rather dishonest scare campaign based on absolutely no scientific evidence, one would have to conclude that they are representing the interests of extreme western environmentalists," he said.

The executive director of the IPA, Dr Mike Nahan, a former agricultural economist who spent a number of years working in Malaysia, said "biotechnology offers better yields, less pesticides, assistance with reforestation, better nutrient levels and brand new crops."

"It would be criminal if Malaysia did not reap these benefits due to the interference of a few wealthy foreign activists and their local front organisations," he said.

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