Big business behind politicians
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BEHIND many political campaigns for social or industrial improvement lie Parliamentary lobbies skilfully created by commercial interests. This is the case with the spray nuisance from lorries, action on which has been encouraged at Westminster by Monsanto Clear Pass and its public relations agents. Altruism gets you nowhere.
The concept of Clear Pass antispray flaps came to Walter Reddaway, a small American operator, who cut his wife's astroturf doormat into strips and attached them to the flaps of his vehicles to reduce spray. Whether she tore strips off him is not recorded but he took the idea to Monsanto, which had made the mat. The company saw its possibilities and has been working on the project for six years.
It was after Lynda Chalker, Minister for Transport, had witnessed the effects of Clear Pass that she instructed the British Standards Institute to devise a standard on which spray control regulations could be based. Monsanto will not, however, enjoy a monopoly from its enterprise because other competitive systems have been developed.