GM video sparks accusations of censorship
Manitoba Co-Operator 09.21.2005
By Ron Friesen

A video by two University of Manitoba researchers about genetically modified crops has become the focus of a controversy over academic freedom.
Ian Mauro, a Ph.D student, and Stéphane McLachlan, his faculty advisor, accuse the U of M of preventing the release of their video Seeds of Change which examines the risks and benefits of GM crops.

Mauro and McLachlan, an environment professor, say the university has used stalling tactics to block the video ever since its completion in the spring of 2003.
U of M officials deny the charge and claim the researchers, not the university, are responsible for the delay.
At first glance, it appears to be a he-said, she-said argument with each side pointing fingers at the other.
But the issue is more involved than that.
It raises questions about ownership of intellectual property. It has spawned a formal grievance against the university over alleged interference with academic freedom. The national association of university teachers has taken up the researchers’ cause. And, in the background, is the tenuous relationship between researchers and multinational corporations.
In the meantime, the video, produced with the assistance of research grants, languishes on the shelf while the principals argue about its release.
Mauro and McLachlan say the U of M appears to have problems with the video because it does not show GM crops in an entirely positive light.
But nobody has ever told them so. "We can’t say we know the answer," said Mauro. "It’s pretty troublesome when a publicly funded project can’t see the light of day."
The university is heavily involved in biotechnology and receives research grants from biotech companies. One of them, Monsanto, is in the process of relocating its Canadian headquarters to a new building in Smartpark, a research complex at the U of M.
Mauro and McLachlan describe their video as the first publicly funded risk assessment of GM crops to focus on farmers’ attitudes to them.
The video includes some well known opponents and proponents of GM crops, including scientist David Suzuki, and Patrick Moore, a former Greenpeace founder who became a GM advocate.
But much of the 70-minute video consists of comments from farmers about their concerns about, and hopes for, GM crops.
Mauro and McLachlan stressed that the video strives for balance. Among its interviewees is Percy Schmeiser, a Saskatchewan farmer and poster boy for the anti-GM movement. But the video also includes Albert Wagner of the Western Barley Growers Association, a GM supporter.
Monsanto, which holds the patent for several GM crops including canola, declined to be interviewed for the video.
The researchers, working with Winnipeg filmmaker Jim Sanders, shot the footage for the video in 2002. An outside investor expressed interest in the video, which included its completion and distribution. The final edit occurred in early 2003.
That’s when things started to go wrong, according to Mauro and McLachlan.
The university claimed a 50 per cent share in the intellectual content of the video, citing a U of M bylaw about audio-visual teaching materials. Mauro and McLachlan said the university expressed concern about the video’s content and indicated it could no longer support the project, killing the distribution agreement. The university then offered to transfer its rights to the researchers, provided its concerns were satisfied and it was protected against legal liability for the contents of the video.
Mauro and McLachlan put together an insurance package and presented it to the university in January 2004. By then, the investor, impatient with the delay, pulled out of the project and asked to be reimbursed for the $28,000 he had already put into it.
Finally, at a meeting in November 2004, the university proposed transferring its interest in the video to Mauro and McLachlan, but still demanded indemnification and control over the footage. The researchers’ lawyer later advised them not to agree to that.
Mauro and McLachlan then approached the Canadian Association of University Teachers requesting support for their position and in getting the video out.
James Turk, CAUT executive director, accused the university of attempting to suppress the work by dragging its feet on the release.
He called it ironic that there would be no problem if the research in question were a published article. However, because it is audio-visual in nature, the U of M can use its bylaws to claim control over it, Turk said.
Both researchers say they are still committed to getting the video shown publicly.
"We’re going to find our own ways of getting the video out," McLachlan said.
He has also filed a grievance against the university through the faculty union, alleging interference in his research.
John Danakas, a U of M spokesperson, disputed Mauro’s and McLachlan’s account of the events. He said they are free to show the video as long as they have permission from their faculty dean to do so.
The filmmakers must also get written permission from farm families interviewed for the video to use the footage, Danakas said.
He also implied that the matter has gone on so long because Mauro and McLachlan have changed their position at least four times about how the footage was to be used.
"The length of time that this has taken reflects the changing wishes of the researchers and the university’s attempts to address those changing wishes," said Danakas.
"That’s news to me," Mauro said when told about Danakas’s statement. "They have been the moving target, not us."
Mauro said all the participants in the video signed releases for the film long ago and the university knows it.
Rene Van Acker, a U of M plant scientist who appears in the video, said the university has been "naively paranoid" about whether it might cause problems in the corporate community.
Van Acker said one of his faculty administrators told him the university has expressed concern about anti-GM criticism and has tried to get clarification about what U of M scientists are doing in GM wheat research.
Danakas denied the university is buckling to pressure from biotechnology companies over the video.
"Because of academic freedom, the university doesn’t take a position on content of research conducted by researchers."
ron@fbcpublishing.com

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