The journal Food and Chemical Toxicology (FCT) removed the Gilles Eric-Seralini team's research paper recently. This happened after two major events. First there was a groundswell of "scientific criticisms" from scientists with or formerly with GMO industry connections. Some even with GMO patents. Their conflicts of interest were never an issue.
The mainstream media (MSM) accepted those criticisms as scientific truth without question or consulting Seralini and his many supporters. Seralini and the researchers at University of Caen in France don't represent any of the industry mega-corporations that frequently advertise through the MSM. Nor do hundreds of scientists who support the study.
Soon after this tsunami of outrage from GMO related scientists that got favorable press, along came former Monsanto scientist Richard E. Goodman to the newly created post of associate editor for biotechnology at FCT.
Then suddenly the editor-in-chief of FCT, A. Wallace Hayes, announced the removal of Seralini's study "Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize".
Hayes admitted the study was not fraudulent or inaccurate, but explained that it was inconclusive. Real scientists jumped on that one, explaining that peer reviewed published studies are often inconclusive, recommending "further studies".
Another study harmful to Monsanto was thrown out just after Goodman's arrival. That was a Brazilian study proving Monsanto's Bt corn insecticide starter genes do not disintegrate in mammalian stomachs but survive intact to harm mammals' blood cells. That study has now been published in another journal. (Source below)
Refuting GMO mad scientists' critical howls reported by the MSM
Wrong rats used: They were the same rats Monsanto had used in a 90 day trial. The Sprague-Dawley (SD) strain has a life expectancy of 24 to 36 months. Just right for a two year study that's intended to replicate the life span of a human.
SD rats tend to have spontaneous tumors: True, around 30 percent of SD rats get cancer symptoms without test-induced provocations. Again, this mimics human statistics on cancer. More SD rats fed well under maximum regulatory amounts of Roundup along with the Roundup Ready corn developed tumors than the control rats within four to seven months of the study. The exposed rats also died earlier.
Too few rats: The short Monsanto study used 20 rats for each group. But, they only checked urine and serum samples of 10 in each group. The Seralini study used 10 for each grouping, but they tested urine and serum samples from all 10.
Insufficient study for proving carcinogenicity: The title of the study tells us that was not Seralin's intent, it was a long term toxicity study of Roundup and Roundup Ready corn, period. Tumors were incidental. The rats who were exposed showed signs of liver, kidney, and other organ damage.
Prelude to the rat study
Regulatory agencies only test the active ingredients of pesticides and herbicides such as Monsanto's Roundup while acquiescing to industry demands of "protecting trade secrets" for the "inactive" ingredients used as adjuvants to increase glyphosate's plant absorption.
An earlier study from Caen University by Mesnage, Bernay and Seralini separated the ingredients of glyphosate based herbicides, including Monsanto's Roundup, to determine what "inert" substances added to the toxicity of glyphosate.
That study determined the most commonly used adjuvant, POE-15, was more toxic by itself than glyphosate. It asserted that regulatory testing only active ingredients is useless, and the combination of all the ingredients need to be tested long term on mammals to determine human safety. (Source below)
Although it pierced pesticides' veil of secrecy, that study didn't make waves publicly. But it's what led to the controversial rat study.
Sources for this article include:
FCT journal's constant conflicts of interest
http://gmwatch.org
Covering Seralini's study politically http://www.fooddemocracynow.org
Covering Seralini's study scientifically
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/NK603
The Brazilian study in its new journal home
http://www.esciencecentral.org
The earlier glyphosate base pesticde study - "Ethoxylated adjuvants of glyphosate based herbicides are active principles of human cell toxicity."
http://gmoseralini.org
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