Food and Water Watch recently released a report that measured the breadth of agricultural biotechnology lobbying dollars flowing into Congress. Some findings:
The top food and agricultural biotechnology firms spent more than $547 million lobbying Congress since 1999 and lobby expenditures more than doubled between 1999 and 2009.
The firms employed more than 100 lobbying firms in 2010 alone, as well as their own in-house lobbyists. Lobbying expenditures rose 102.8 percent from $35.0 million in 1999 to $71.0 million in 2009.
These biotechnology interests donated $22.4 million to congressional candidates between 1999 and July 2010, averaging about $2 million a year.
