“Lord Melchett, the former head of Greenpeace, who led its campaign against genetically modified crops, has accepted a salaried job with a public relations firm whose clients include Monsanto, the GM giant,” The Independent is reporting. “The leading environmentalist, who stood down as executive director of the campaigning charity last year, starts work next week as a consultant with Burson-Marsteller, which has represented some of the world’s most notorious polluters, including the Exxon Corporation, Union Carbide, and the US company Babcock and Wilcox.”

The best part?

Lord Melchett will head a committee advising companies on how to deal with controversial issues such as GM food, toxic waste and child labour in the developing world. The company said he may also give them advice on how to cope with environmental protests [my emphasis]

It’s about time. Unscrupulous advocacy groups have been given the lion’s share of environmental media coverage over the last 15 or so years — with a fawning, ingenuous press often too lazy (or too duped) to examine critically what amount to press releases dressed up as “scientific” news.

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