What is in this article?:
- GM corn and rat study rejected by US scientists
- Lack of sound science
- Bizarre GM corn study by French researchers rejected by American scientists.
- “The purpose of the study was not to produce new scientific information but rather was to negatively influence public opinion of GM crops."
- The way the study was conducted raises serious ethical concerns and profound questions of possible scientific misconduct.
A bizarre study by French researchers claiming ill effects on laboratory rats fed genetically modified corn and given water spiked with herbicide has been rejected by American scientists who questioned the motives and methods of the authors.
“This study appears to be without scientific merit,” said Dr. Martina Newell-McGloughlin, director of the International Biotechnology Program at the University of California/Davis. “The problem here appears to be with the experimental design,” she said. “Whether it was deliberately devised to attain the desired outcome remains to be seen.”
“This is not an innocent scientific publication,” Dr. Bruce M. Chassy, professor emeritus of food science at the University of Illinois, said. “It is a well-planned and cleverly orchestrated media event. The study was designed to produce exactly what was observed and it was deliberately allowed to continue until grotesque and fear-evoking tumors developed. The way the study was conducted, including the treatment of the animals, especially those who developed tumors as these rats are known to do, raises serious ethical concerns and profound questions of possible scientific misconduct.”
“The purpose of the study was not to produce new scientific information but rather was to negatively influence public opinion of GM crops,” Chassy added. “This makes a mockery of science. It is a shame that the media and the journal that published the study were so uncritical.”
The study was led by Gilles-Eric Seralini, whose book attacking biotechnology was recently re-issued. The study claimed that rats fed a steady diet of feed made from biotech corn developed tumors. In addition, the drinking water of the rats was continuously spiked with glyphosate, the active ingredient in many broad spectrum herbicide products. Glyphosate has a long history of safe use in more than 130 countries around the world and favorable environmental characteristics. It binds tightly to most soils making it unlikely to move to groundwater and degrades over time in soil and natural waters.
Scientists pointed out that numerous studies in the scientific literature attest to the fact that the particular stock of rats used in the study, lab animals known as the “Sprague-Dawley” type, are prone to develop tumors before the age of two. The Seralini study ran for about two years.
Seralini touted the study as the first long-term feeding study ever conducted, but Dr. Newell-McGloughlin pointed out that in fact the results of numerous long-term studies have been published with none of the results claimed by Seralini.
