Busted: A Columnist Backed by Monsanto Fired

[Clara T]

A Columnist Backed by Monsanto
Michael Fumento's failure to disclose payments to him in 1999 from the agribusiness giant has now caused Scripps Howard to sever its ties to him

YOU SHOULD CONTRIBUTE."  In his career at Hudson, Fumento has carved out a specialty debunking critics of the agribusiness and biotechnology industries. In 1999, he says, he solicited $60,000 from Monsanto to write a book on the business. The book, entitled BioEvolution was published in 2003. A spokesman for Monsanto confirmed the payments to the Hudson Institute.

Asked about the payments, Fumento says, "I'm just extremely pro-biotech." He says he solicited several agribusiness companies to finance his book, which was published by Encounter Books. "I went after everybody, I've got to be honest," Fumento says of his fund-raising effort. "I told them that if I tell the truth in this book, the biotech industry is going to look really good, and you should contribute."
The Monsanto grant, he says, flowed from the company to the Hudson Institute to support his work. A portion went to overhead and "most of it" went into his salary. He says the money was simply folded into his salary for that year, and therefore represented no windfall to him personally.

"STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS."  The book's acknowledgements cite support from The Donner Foundation and "others who wish to remain anonymous." Fumento didn't disclose the payment from Monsanto either in the book or in at least eight columns he has written mentioning Monsanto since 1999. He explained in his recent column that he focused exclusively on Monsanto due to a "lack of space and because their annual report was plopped onto my lap while I was hunting for a column idea."
The author says he sees no conflict of interest in his recent columns because the grant came several years ago. "If you're thinking quid pro quo," he says, "I think there's a statute of limitations on that."

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/jan2006/nf20060113_2851_db035.htm

Rampant. The revolving doors spinning as usual in the corporate-media complex

[classics]

1. Hate screed author.

Wrote "The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS" and "The Fat of the Land"... now passing himself off as a reich wing pundit?!

Funny.

[KT2000]

2. Couldn't happen to a bigger

ass! Guess this means he is going to FOX?!?!?