A study by French scientists that found that rats fed genetically modified maize suffered increased rates of tumours is set to be controversially retracted by the scientific journal that published it.
The study, led Professor Gilles-Erik Séralini, published in the journal of Food and Chemical Toxicology (FCT) found that rats fed Monsanto’s GM maize NK603 and tiny amounts of the Roundup herbicide it is grown with suffered serious toxic effects, including kidney and liver damage and increased rates of tumours and mortality.
But both the study and the editorial treatment of it by FCT editors drew sharp criticism from other scientists. It was claimed that the number of animals in the study was too small and, crucially, that the type of rat used in the study is one prone to tumours. There were even allegations of fraudulent activity by the study team.
Following a “time consuming and thorough” re-analysis of the raw data, FTC editor Dr A Wallace Hayes took the decision to retract the Séralini study. In a statement, the publisher Elsevier said that “unequivocally, (FCT) found no evidence of fraud or intentional misrepresentation of data”, but that “given the known high incidence of tumors in the Sprague-Dawley rat, normal variability cannot be excluded as the cause of the higher mortality and incidence observed in the treated groups”
Anti-GM groups fear that the retraction is the result of pressure on the journal by GM interests. One group, GMWatch, has accused FCT of “violating guidelines for retractions in scientific publishing” and attacks the journal for basing its decision to retract on a “secret and non-transparent review by unnamed persons”.
The Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) says that much of the criticism of the 2012 Séralini paper is “based on its portrayal as poorly designed carcinogenicity study”. But, the ANH points out, it was designed as toxicity study and the “tumours that developed during the study surprised the researchers as much as anyone else”.
In an editorial earlier this year, ANH wrote: “The story of Séralini et al’s research paper is one of an ongoing battle between the well-organised and well-funded pro-GM camp, with its friendly ‘experts’ and a largely pliant media, and an independent research group that raised a worrying red flag over long-term consumption of a GM maize strain and Roundup.”
