» WELCOME
» AN INTRODUCTION
» PROFILES
» LM WATCH
» CONTACT
» LOBBYWATCH LINKS
»


WEEKLY WATCH number 126 (2/6/2005)

from Claire Robinson, WEEKLY WATCH editor
------------------------------------------------------------

Dear all:

Another claimed biotech industry 'success' has been exposed as a fraud. The showcase Bt cotton project in Makhatini Flats, South Africa has resulted in 80% of farmers pulling out of growing the crop, increased pest problems, and massive debts for the farmers (AFRICA).

In the wake of the media brouhaha over the secret Monsanto GM maize study that showed damage to rats, reports on the study commissioned by the German government from Dr Arpad Pusztai - but subsequently hushed up - have been leaked. They make interesting reading. Monsanto appears to have done shoddy science, found damaging results in spite of a poor study design, and then tried to dismiss those results as insignificant. Monsanto still won't release the original study: we wonder why?

Claire [email protected]
www.gmwatch.org / www.lobbywatch.org

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

FOOD SAFETY
Bt10 CONTAMINATION LATEST
LOBBYWATCH
MONTREAL (CARTAGENA PROTOCOL) LATEST
ASIA
AFRICA
THE AMERICAS
EUROPE
NEW RESOURCE
QUOTE OF THE WEEK - lots on Canada

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOD SAFETY
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ LEGAL MOVE TO MAKE EU PUBLISH GM TEST RESULTS
Two legal initiatives are to be launched to force European bureaucrats to make public secret research on the effects of feeding Monsanto's MON863 GM corn to rats.

This week, in separate moves, a British pressure group is to approach the European ombudsman, and a former French environment minister is to write to the European Court to ask it to lift the cloak of confidentiality from a 1,139- page report by Monsanto, which showed that rats fed a GM corn had smaller kidneys and raised levels of white blood cells compared to those who ate a similar non-GM one.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5302

+ BERRY'S BULLSH*T
It seems unlikely that there is anything in the Monsanto study that could remotely be regarded as "commercially sensitive" - the reason given by Monsanto for not publishing it. Unless, of course, Monsanto has a proprietary right over crap science!

Incidentally, Prof Colin Berry, who is part of the industry-friendly pro-GM lobby group - the Scientific Alliance, said the following during a recent BBC interview:

BBC: Wouldn't it be better then just to publish them up front and people would have much more confidence if they knew that any scientist could go and look at the data, look at the original findings and say whether or not they stand up to scrutiny?

BERRY: Yes I think that's a perfectly reasonable point. I think the problem is I'm not the proper person to decide what is commercially sensitive, but let me emphasize, as far as I understand it all of these data are discoverable that any... by any scientist who wants to see them if they've been reported to a regulatory authority.

So perhaps Sir Colin could tell us exactly where scientists who want to see this data can "discover" and obtain them from a regulatory authority - or why Dr Pusztai had to sign a "Declaration of secrecy" before one of the national competent authorities handed over the 1139 pages? The declaration was designed precisely to ensure that Dr Pusztai could not publicly "say whether or not they stand up to scrutiny".
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5302

+ MONSANTO AGREES TO RELEASE OF FEEDING STUDY EVALUATIONS
After an extended campaign from NGOs to achieve the publication of Dr Pusztai's evaluation, Monsanto's UK head of Corporate Affairs, Tony Combes, has written to GM Free Cymru to say that the company has not been responsible for the suppression of the "Pusztai Report" on its controversial 90-day rat feeding studies. Combes claimed the refusal to release it into the public domain was down to the German Regulatory Authorities.

Some of the findings of the rat feeding study were exposed in the "Independent on Sunday" newspaper, and repercussions from the story have gone around the world.

Dr Arpad Pusztai, one of the few independent scientists specializing in plant genetics and animal feeding studies, was asked by the German authorities in autumn 2004 to examine Monsanto's 1,139-page report on the feeding of MON863 to laboratory rats over a 90-day period. The study found "statistically significant" differences to kidney weights and certain blood parameters in the rats fed on the GM maize as compared with the control groups.

Dr Pusztai was forced by the German authorities to sign a "declaration of secrecy" before he was allowed to see the rat feeding study, on the grounds that the document is classified as "CBI" or "confidential business interest". However, he assumed that this would not prevent the publication of his findings by the Germans themselves, should his evaluation highlight any health and safety concerns.

In the event, his evaluation was critical of the methodology of the study, and he also expressed concerns about what the researchers had found. These concerns were identical to those of Prof Gilles-Eric Seralini of the University of Caen and scientists in Germany and elsewhere, but the German government refused to publish them and insisted that Dr Pusztai should respect his "gagging order." So he has been unable to circulate his written material or speak about what he found.

You can read Dr Pusztai's reports at:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=66&page=1

All we need now is Monsanto to release its actual 1,139-page study on the feeding of MON863 t

Go to a Print friendly Page


Email this Article to a Friend


Back to the Archive