Viewpoint: Russia Today’s ‘fake news’ about GMOs is a strategic attack by Putin on US science and technology

On Sunday [Jan. 7], CBS’s 60 Minutes ran a segment on the propaganda role of Russian news network RT, or Russia Today.

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RT, the Kremlin’s primary English-language propaganda arm, is the mouthpiece for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s agenda. Fake news is its stock in trade, as illustrated by its blatant disinformation attacks on the reporting of news by respected media outlets like the BBC.

Russia’s targets are not limited to politics. Dr. Alex Berezow of the American Council on Science and Health has described how RT subtly undermines the technology and economic growth of the United States.

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Genetic engineering in agriculture is a sector that holds intense interest for the Russians.

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An example of the lengths to which Russian trolling in the United States will go to discredit genetic engineering was a wire-service story claiming that Melania Trump has banned genetically engineered foods from the White House and favors organic products.

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The Russian agenda gets plenty of support from inside the United States. For decades the U.S. organic industry’s propaganda campaign has been trolling and dispensing the same sorts of disinformation to discredit the competition (that is, genetic engineering).

Read full, original post: Putin is mounting sly, self-serving attacks on American science