Post date: Sep 20, 2012 5:59:25 PM
HANDOUT - ( "ALL OF US GUINEA-PIGS NOW?" BY JEAN-PAUL JAUD) - Scientists called on Thursday for further studies to be carried out on Thursday (September 20) after a French study linking Monsanto genetically modified (GM) maize to increased risk of tumours in rats was made public.
Scientists call for a review in the way EU regulators allow the marketing of genetically modified foods after a controversial study shows that rats fed on GM corn or exposed to a top-selling weedkiller suffered tumours and multiple organ damage.
French scientists said on Wednesday that rats fed on Monsanto's genetically modified corn or exposed to its top-selling weedkiller suffered tumours and multiple organ damage.
The French government asked the country's health watchdog to investigate the findings further, although a number of scientists questioned the study's basic methods and Monsanto said it felt confident its products had been proven safe.
Gilles-Eric Seralini of the University of Caen and colleagues said rats fed on a diet containing NK603 - a seed variety made tolerant to dousings of Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller - or given water with Roundup at levels permitted in the United States, died earlier than those on a standard diet.
Experts not involved in the study were sceptical, with one accusing the French scientists of going on a "statistical fishing trip" and others describing its methods as well below standard.
But Seralini, who was invited to Brussels by Green Party MEP Corinne Lepage to talk to the media, said his was the most thorough study ever carried out.
"In general, they (the criticisms) have been made by lobbyists who have no competence nor honesty in the debate. They are the ones who have authorised maize that has been tested over three months with bad statistics and I therefore I'm waiting for criticism from scientists who have already published material in magazines with readers' committees on the effects of GMO and pesticide on health, in order to debate fairly with peers who are real scientists, and not lobbyists. Anyway, this study has been evaluated by the world's best food toxicology magazine, which took much more time than people who reacted within 24 hours without reading the study," he told Reuters TV.
The animals on the genetically modified (GM) diet suffered mammary tumours, as well as severe liver and kidney damage, according to the peer-reviewed study which was published in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology and presented at a news conference in London.
The researchers said 50 percent of male and 70 percent of female rats died prematurely, compared with only 30 percent and 20 percent in the control group.
Monsanto spokesman Thomas Helscher said the company would review the study thoroughly but added that over one hundred studies had shown the safety of their products in accordance with international regulations.
Seralini believes his latest lifetime rat tests give a more realistic and authoritative view of risks than the 90-day feeding trials that form the basis of GM crop approvals, since three months is only the equivalent of early adulthood in rats.
"GM foods have been evaluated in a extremely poor and lax way with much less analysis that we have done. It's the world's most detailed and longest study. Therefore, some people are responsible and guilty to have authorize this GMO after only three months," Seralini said.
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are deeply unpopular in Europe but dominate major crops in the United States after Monsanto introduced a soybean genetically altered to tolerate Roundup in 1996.
Experts asked by reporters to review the scientific paper advised caution in drawing conclusions from it.
"I think we should be very careful, being cautious about one test. I think what we need now, as a matter of emergency, is more research in this field to see if these results are replicated, and in addition to that, a review of the regulatory process which until now has failed to spot these negative health outcomes," said Patrick Holden from Sustainable Food Trust.
Although some scientists have criticised the way the study was carried out, such as the type of rat used, and the statistical methods.
While supporters of GM crops say previous studies have overwhelmingly pointed to their safety, critics argue there is still limited information about the long-term effects since the crops have only been around for just over 15 years.
In France, where opposition to GMOs has led to a ban on growing such crops, the government said it had asked its health and safety agency to assess the study and had also sent it to the European Union's food safety agency (EFSA).
Seralini previously raised safety concerns based on a shorter rat study in 2009. His new study takes things a step further by tracking the animals throughout their two-year lifespan.
Michael Antoniou, a molecular biologist at King's College London, who helped draft the paper, told reporters at a London briefing that its findings highlighted the "need to test all GM crops in two-year lifelong studies".
"There is enough strength of this data to do two things from the regulatory point of view. First of all, at least temporarily withdraw the approval for marketing of this variety of GM maize until we extend the study and to get to the bottom as to how toxic it is. An das far as the Roundup is concerned, this study implies that the safety, curently-set safety level for Roundup is set way too high and that that needs to be revised downwards," he said.
A documentary on the findings is to be released in cinemas in France on Friday (September 21).
The study is also likely to create friction in the United States, where opponents of genetically engineered foods in California are fighting to have all GMOs removed from the food supply.