By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER
The gap between federal support for
agricultural research at large public universities and private investment
continues to grow _ and the divide comes with increased threats to academic
freedom and more instances of meddling in the lab, a new research report
suggests.
A recent study by Food and Water Watch, a
Washington-based environmental group, shows that nearly one-quarter of the
money spent on agricultural research at land-grant universities comes from corporations,
trade associations and foundations, an all-time high. Financial support from
the U.S. Department of Agriculture accounts for less than 15 percent, the
lowest level in nearly two decades.
The consumer advocacy group's report is rife
with what it calls examples of how corporate money "corrupts" the
public research mission at land-grant schools, which were created by the
Morrill Act of 1862. The law provided federal land for states to establish
agriculture and engineering colleges.
The examples range from a University of
Georgia food safety program that allows industry groups to join an advisory
board in exchange for annual $20,000 donations, to an Ohio State University
professor whose research on genetically modified sunflowers was blocked by two seed
companies after the initial results suggested the biotech sunflowers fostered
the growth of weeds.
The report, entitled "Public Research,
Private Gain," also explores the blurry lines created when universities
and industry work hand-in-hand, such as when South Dakota State University sued
farmers over wheat seed patents as part of a public-private coalition formed
with a Monsanto Co. subsidiary. The Missouri-based company is known for
aggressive litigation against what it calls seed piracy. Kansas State University,
Colorado State and Texas A&M have pursued similar lawsuits.
Such alliances are a far cry from land-grant
universities' historic role in promoting public knowledge and freely sharing
the fruits of their research, said Patty Lovara, Food and Water Watch's
assistant director. The report notes that publicly funded university research
led to the domestication of blueberries, early varieties of high-yield hybrid
corn and common tools to fight soil erosion.
"There's a real sense in agriculture of
what these schools used to be," Lovara said. "There was much more
trust in what they put out. This is not the same research system of decades
ago, and we're acting like it is."
Deans at several agricultural schools singled
out for criticism in the report maintained that while corporate support is
vital, it's unlikely to sway research results or even influence what research
gets done.
"We're kind of caught between a rock and
a hard place," said Thomas Payne, dean of the College of Agriculture, Food
and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri. "In order for
research to continue, we have to have support from a variety of sources."
Payne said industry support accounts for just
5 percent of the agricultural research budget at Missouri _ though the Food and
Water Watch report notes that the percentages were significantly higher in the
university's plant sciences department (42 percent from 2007 to 2010) and its
College of Veterinary Medicine (63 percent from 2004 to 2010).
Monsanto plays a prominent role on the
Missouri campus, where science students attend lectures in Monsanto Auditorium
_ built in part with a $950,000 grant from the St. Louis company _ and
professors spin their university research off into private companies at the
Monsanto Place "life sciences business incubator," which was built
with the help of a $2 million corporate grant.
The company and others in food and
agriculture production have given substantial sums to other universities as
well. There's a $1 million Monsanto Student Services Wing at Iowa State
University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and a $250,000 endowed
Monsanto chair in agricultural communications at the University of Illinois.
Cargill Inc. donated $10 million more than a
decade ago for naming rights on a plant genomics building at the University of
Minnesota, while two sensory labs at Purdue carry the imprimaturs of the Kroger
Co. and ConAgra Foods Inc.
While the Food and Water Watch report
suggests spending millions of dollars on building naming rights may also buy
access to key decision makers, the donors and university officials say that's
not true.
"In our experience, there is no
correlation between naming rights and university research," Monsanto
spokeswoman Sara Miller said.
Another Monsanto spokeswoman, Kelli Powers,
said the company "is proud of its contributions to land-grant universities
and support of university agricultural research," whether through naming
rights or student scholarships.
Michael Doyle, a professor of food
microbiology at Georgia and director of its Center for Food Safety, rejected
the notion that companies such as Cargill, ConAgra and the Coca-Cola Co. unduly
influence the center's research agenda when they buy seats on the Board of
Advisors.
"Industry does not tell me how to spend
that money," he said, noting that corporate support accounts for just 10
percent of the program's research budget. "But I ask the industry, `What
are the areas you are interested in?'"
Those interests range from pathogen control
to insider access to scientists and regulators from the Atlanta-based Centers
for Disease Control. Corporate partners are promised "special
consideration" by Center for Food Safety faculty members, and the center's
website reassures industry members that a prying press isn't allowed to attend
those discussions.
"What we're trying to do is come up with
practical ways the industry can make our food safer," Doyle added.
"It's not specific to a company ... Sometimes the research doesn't work
out the way the industry wants. We don't hold back."
With the current five-year farm bill set to
expire at the end of September, Food and Water Watch wants Congress to boost
the federal investment in campus agricultural research, with more resources
steered toward sustainable methods, organic farming and reduced use of
pesticides. The group also is calling for land-grant universities to more fully
disclose gifts by private donors and wants agricultural research journals to adopt
more stringent conflict-of-interest rules, similar to the recent crackdown by
medical journals.
"This is a conversation that needs to be
had about how we support this research," Lovara said. "There are a
lot of consequences of land grant-funding of industry research that haven't
been examined."
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