France has unleashed its wrath on a German firm, Monsanto that was formerly a US company. Local media reports say personal data protection agency fined Monsanto for illegally compiling files of public figures, journalists and activists with the aim of swaying opinion towards support for its controversial pesticides.
Monsanto was an agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Its best known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed in the 1970s.
Later the company became a major producer of genetically engineered crops. In 2018, the company ranked 199th on the Fortune 500 of the largest United States corporations by revenue.
Monsanto was one of four groups to introduce genes into plants in 1983,[3] and was among the first to conduct field trials of genetically modified crops in 1987. It was one of the top 10 US chemical companies until it divested most of its chemical businesses between 1997 and 2002, through a process of mergers and spin-offs that focused the company on biotechnology.
It was one of the first companies to apply the biotechnology industry business model to agriculture, using techniques developed by biotech drug companies.[4]:2–6 In this business model, companies recoup R&D expenses by exploiting biological patents.
Its roles in agricultural changes, biotechnology products, lobbying of government agencies, and roots as a chemical company, resulted in controversies. The company once manufactured controversial products such as the insecticide DDT, PCBs, Agent Orange, and recombinant bovine growth hormone. Its seed patenting model was criticized as biopiracy and a threat to biodiversity as invasive species.
However, the firm, now owned by German chemical giant, Bayer, failed to inform the people on the watch lists compiled in the context of a heated public debate about glyphosate, a weed killer, it ruled.
The CNIL agency fined Monsanto 400,000 euros ($473,000) in the case brought by seven plaintiffs.
Compiling lists of contacts was not in itself illegal, the agency said, but only people who could “reasonably expect” to figure on such lists because of their business sector or their public standing should have been included.
Furthermore, data had to be collected legally and targets informed, including of their right to refuse being listed. By keeping the lists secret, Monsanto deprived them of this right, CNIL said.
Monsanto gave a rating of one to five to each of the over 200 people on its French lists corresponding to their estimated influence, credibility and level of support for Monsanto on several topics, especially pesticides and genetically-modified crops.
The case, first reported by French media Le Monde and France 2 television in 2019, quickly spread to other European countries where Monsanto was also keeping lists.
Lawyers hired by Bayer — which had acquired Monsanto the previous year — said that they found close to 1,500 politicians, journalists and others “located primarily within the EU”
