MONSANTO/UofS Connection - Archivist

[Oscar]

Re: The University-Monsanto connection, this item appeared in the Prince Albert Daily Herald last week.

"Retired archivist in legal battle with U of S" (7 Aug 2018)

[ https://paherald.sk.ca/2018/08/07/retir ... th-u-of-s/ ]

PRINCE ALBERT DAILY HERALD

[Oscar]

University of Saskatchewan and Monsanto

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: University of Saskatchewan and Monsanto
"D'Arcy Hande" <darcy004@sasktel.net >
Date: 26/11/2018 11:41

Attached is a brochure that our group prepared just last week that was distributed at the annual convention of the National Farmers Union here in Saskatoon. It gives a few more details.

Our group is in the process of submitting further Freedom of Information requests to the University. And we are working with a major Canadian news organization on an investigative piece, which will be coming out early next year. So more information will be released in due course. But in the meantime, I can refer you to the following news items related directly to the University-Monsanto connections:

1) “Group questions U of S prof's Monsanto link”
[ https://thestarphoenix.com/news/local-n ... santo-link ]
By Jason Warick, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Updated: October 3, 2015
A University of Saskatchewan professor is one of several prominent North American academics under fire for undeclared connections to agri-business giant Monsanto.


2) "U of S professor says there's nothing unusual about his ties to Monsanto”
[ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoo ... -1.4100399 ]
By Jason Warick · CBC News · Posted: May 07, 2017 5:00 AM CT | Last Updated: May 7, 2017
Documents show agri-business coached Peter Phillips, edited academic articles


3) “U of S defends prof's Monsanto ties, but some faculty disagree”
[ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoo ... -1.4107475 ]
By Jason Warick · CBC News · Posted: May 10, 2017 5:00 AM CT | Last Updated: May 10, 2017
'We encourage our faculty to translate their knowledge,' says public policy school director Jeremy Rayner


4) “Retired archivist in legal battle with U of S”
[ https://paherald.sk.ca/2018/08/07/retir ... th-u-of-s/ ]
By Bianca Bharti, Prince Albert Daily Herald, August 7, 2018
Hande requested documents about U of S’ research interests

~ ~ ~

ALSO: Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner’s report recommending that most of the redactions be lifted on the transcript of proceedings of the University of Saskatchewan’s “Research Management and the Right to Know” symposium, December 2015 (if you are interested in seeing the full 40+ page redacted transcript, please let me know):

Review Report 298-2017 - June 5, 2018 - University of Saskatchewan

The Applicant requested an audio recording from the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) related to a symposium titled, Research Management and the Right to Know held at the U of S on December 2, 2015. The U of S responded providing partial access to records. The U of S withheld information citing subsections 16(1)(a), (b) and 28(1) of The Local Authority Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (LA FOIP). Upon review, the Commissioner found that subsections 16(1)(a) and (b) were not appropriately applied by the U of S. Further, the Commissioner found that the U of S did not appropriately apply subsection 28(1) of LA FOIP to some portions of the records but appropriately applied it to others. The Commissioner recommended some information continue to be withheld while the remaining be released.

LA FOIP 2(f)(xi),16(1)(a), 16(1)(b), 23(1), 23(1)(b), 23(1)(f), 23(1)(k)(i), 28(1), 51



D’Arcy Hande
Box 32040, Erindale P.O.
Saskatoon, SK S7S 1N8
OR 1-306-220-0321 (C)
hande.dk@sasktel.net
Phone 1-306-249-1392 (H)Email
CANADA

[Oscar]

SCROLL DOWN TO UPDATE Nov. 26, 2018

[ https://www.gofundme.com/academic-integ ... rPPhgZA9r8 ]

[Oscar]

Backgrounder - Research in the public eye: Engaged academic research and the ‘right to know’ -

- [ https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=r ... PartId=0.1 ]

Peter W.B. Phillips © 2024 by Peter W.B. Phillips - Published June 15, 2024
Centre for the Study of Science and Innovation Policy (CSIP)
101 Diefenbaker Place, Saskatoon, Canada, S7N 5B8
[ www.scienceandinnovationpolicy.ca ]

----

EXCERPT:

Preface

The journal Issues in Science and Technology, published by the US National Academy of Sciences and
Arizona State University, published in June 2024 a piece I wrote on a controversy I become entangled
with over the past decade.

Phillips, Peter WB. 2024. Preparing Researchers for an Era of Freer Information. Issues in
Science and Technology. www.issues.org

As the editors and I worked through the piece, much of the personal detail of the story was removed. For
completeness, I offer the following as background to the story.

Peter W.B. Phillips, Distinguished University Professor Emeritus
Saskatoon, Canada

- - -

Backgrounder - Research in the public eye: Engaged academic research and the ‘right to know’
Peter WB Phillips
Distinguished Professor, Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
University of Saskatchewan

If you Google my name with the phrase ‘Monsanto’, you will find a series of allegations that my scholarly work is unduly influenced by corporations and that I have engaged secretly in promoting genetically modified organisms (GMOs). It is not and I have not. My experience offers an insight into the challenges of scholars working on matters of public interest. The roots of my story date to 2013 when I was co-principal investigator of a project entitled Value Addition through Genomics and GE3LS (VALGEN), an internationally peer reviewed C$5.4 million Genome Canada grant administered by Genome Prairie.2

My team was funded to explore governance of the suite of new biotechnologies being used in modern plant breeding. Beginning in the 1980s scientists in universities, industry and government developed and transferred gene-splicing tools
into a range of applications, including plants, animals and microbes. Health and environmental applications are largely welcomed but those for the agricultural and food system raise significant concern for some. GM seeds, first used commercially in 1995, mostly offer insect resistance or herbicide tolerance. ISAAA3 estimates that by 2018 (the latest data), 26 countries spanning six continents produced one or more GM crops (mostly maize, soybeans, cotton and canola) on an estimated 192 million hectares, while another 44 countries imported and consumed GM foodstuffs. An estimated 17 million farmers, 95% from developing countries, have gained an estimated US$186 billion in economic benefits from cultivating GM seeds over the past 22 years, and the ecological footprint of those crops is lower than crops based on older production methods, but there has been significant pushback against GMOs. Many countries ban cultivation or import while civil society has engaged in more than 20 years of campaigning against the technology based on concerns about its economic, environmental, health and ethical impacts. These campaigns have involved protests, destruction of seed trials, lobbying, petitions, plebiscites, ballot propositions, litigation and, most recently, freedom of information requests of public academics. . . . ."

More . . . [ https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=r ... PartId=0.1 ]

[Oscar]

Lawsuit against university comes to an end, public shares concerns

[ https://thesheaf.com/2019/09/16/lawsuit ... -concerns/ ]

By Noah Callaghan — September 16, 2019 — in News

QUOTE: "After years of trying to remove the censorship of an event’s recording, a group made up of current and retired University of Saskatchewan faculty, citizens and alumni say they are too fiscally constrained to appeal the court’s decision.

The case in question began in 2015 when The Saskatoon StarPhoenix reported on Peter W.B. Phillips, a professor from the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy. The article claimed the professor had undeclared connections in his research to the agri­-business behemoth Monsanto. . . . ."

More: [ https://thesheaf.com/2019/09/16/lawsuit ... -concerns/ ]