FOOD BABE: The shocking email from Monsanto: Why I am submitting a FOIA request

(NaturalNews) I've always said that food and chemical corporations work with public university scientists "behind closed doors" to manipulate the public—and now our movement has irrefutable PROOF. But first, let me start at the beginning...
When our movement got big companies to change, Dr. Kevin Folta, from University of Florida appeared on the scene. Every time we made headway on an important issue, Kevin Folta, who claimed to be an unbiased scientist, was there to refute our claims and throw some ad hominem attacks. Here are a few examples (many more are documented at the end of this post):
(Story by Food babe, republished from http://foodbabe.com.)

"The fact that she is able to mobilize this army of blind followers who reject science and follow her words, to smear and harm the reputations of companies that are doing nothing wrong." – The Atlantic, 2/11/2015

Kevin M. Folta, the chairman of the horticultural sciences department at the University of Florida, described Ms. Hari's lecture at the university last October as a "corrupt message of bogus science and abject food terrorism." – quoted in New York Times, 3/15/2015

"There's something that dies inside when you are a faculty member that works hard to teach about food, farming and science, and your own university brings in a crackpot to unravel all of the information you have brought to students." — Folta's Blog, Food Babe Visits My University, 10/21/2014

My intuition and common sense knew that this guy HAD to be connected to these corporations in some way, but he kept denying any connection. And I believed he was causing irreparable harm to our healthy food movement because the media believed that he was an unbiased scientist.

Well, NOT ANYMORE.

This week an unprecedented major investigative report was published in the NY Times^[1] about how the chemical and food industries work with public university scientists to advance their agendas to the public. Hundreds of emails have now been revealed between University of Florida Professor Dr. Kevin Folta, Monsanto, the biotech front groups, and their PR firm Ketchum after a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request was submitted by the nonprofit group U.S. Right To Know.^[2]

Why would Monsanto work with a public scientist in the first place?

Some powerful entities in the chemical and food industries have a financial incentive to try to discredit us in the work we have all done together and now we know how they are using public scientists like Dr. Kevin Folta as sock puppets to advance their message. We've come a long way in our food movement and things are finally starting to change – people are getting healthier and the food industry is responding to us, but why is someone like Dr. Kevin Folta on a mission to stop our progress?

Newly discovered emails^[3] reveal that Folta received a $25,000 unrestricted grant from Monsanto, and even wrote to a Monsanto executive, "I'm glad to sign on to whatever you like,^[4] or write whatever you like," and "I promise a solid return on investment."^[5]

However, Folta previously denied ties to Monsanto, here are 9 different examples:

• "But he denies financial ties."^[6]
• He has "no formal connection to Monsanto."^[7]
• "David [Oppenheimer] and I have no research or personal funding from 'Big Ag' – only in our dreams."^[8]
• "Certainly Monsanto (and others) have funded work at my university. Not my work."^[9]
• "I have no financial ties to any of the BigAg companies that make transgenic crops, including Monsanto."^[10]
• "I have nothing to do with MON"^[11]
• "I'm an independent scientist. Not Monsanto."^[12]
• "I am one of thousands of independent, public scientists worldwide..."^[13]
• "I have nothing to do with Monsanto. I'm not, you know, I don't work for them... I am not a shill (laughing)... I'm a public scientist."^[14]

Not only was Folta repeatedly dishonest about his ties to Monsanto, but on "several occasions" according to the NY Times, Folta took word for word answers and commentary from Monsanto's PR firm Ketchum to use as his own words. Previously he claimed he never used the text written for him^[15] by the PR firm Ketchum.

Monsanto sells Roundup, the chemical that is sprayed on the majority of GMO seeds. The main ingredient in Roundup was recently classified as a probable carcinogen.^[16] They are in panic mode trying to repair their image and will do anything to confuse the public.

Folta attempted to derail my speaking event at the University of Florida. He has also been interviewed by major media outlets such as The Atlantic, NPR, and the NY Times acting as an unbiased third party source, telling reporters he has no financial ties to Monsanto or the biotech industry all while acting as the ringleader and chief of my critics.

Read more at FoodBabe.com.

Sources:

[1] NYTimes.com

[2] USRTK.org

[3] NYTimes.com

[4] USRTK.org

[5] DocumentCloud.org

[6] TheAtlantic.com

[7] USRTK.org

[8] Web.Archive.org

[9] USRTK.org

[10] USRTK.org

[11] USRTK.org

[12] USRTK.org

[13] ScienceDirect.com

[14] YouTube.com

[15] InsideHighered.com

[16] WSJ.com