-Caveat Lector-
from New Scientist
Anatomy of a food scare
10 August 1998: Arpad Pusztai, a biochemist at the Rowett Research Institute
in Aberdeen, appears in a documentary on British TV to warn about the
inadequate testing of GM foods. He claims to have carried out experiments
showing that feeding genetically engineered potatoes to young rats suppresses
their immune responses and harms their growth and development. Pusztai's
remarks are seized upon by opponents of GM foods everywhere.
12 August 1998: The Rowett says Pusztai muddled his results and was wrong to
talk about unpublished findings. The institute says that the rats had eaten
not GM potatoes but ordinary potatoes spiked with a jack bean lectin, one of a
family of proteins used by plants to ward off insect pests and which are often
toxic to mammals. Environmentalists cry "cover-up". Biotechnologists say it is
much ado about nothing, as nobody planned to sell potatoes engineered to carry
the lectin and in any case, even if Pusztai had done the experiments he
described, all it proved was that if you insert a gene for a toxin into a
potato the potato becomes toxic.
14 August 1998: Pusztai, who is past retirement age, is suspended and told
that his annual contract will not be renewed. He is instructed not to speak to
the media about his results.
28 October 1998: A panel set up by Philip James, director of the Rowett
institute, criticises Pusztai, but does not accuse him of scientific fraud. It
becomes clear that, despite the institute's initial claims, his experiments
did involve potatoes engineered to contain a gene for a lectin.
However, the Rowett claims there is no "statistically significant" evidence in
Pusztai's data suggesting that rats were harmed by the transgenic potatoes.
The institute's report into the affair also states that Pusztai's experiments
focused on potatoes containing a lectin from the snowdrop, not from the jack
bean, as was previously thought.
November 1998: Pusztai's supporters circulate his "alternative report" among
sympathetic scientists. This contradicts the Rowett's report, reiterating the
claim that GM potatoes harmed the rats.
12 February 1999: Twenty scientists from 14 countries who have examined
Pusztai's report accuse the Rowett of bowing to political pressure. The group,
including former associates of Pusztai and active opponents of biotechnology,
calls for a moratorium on GM crops on the grounds that the study reveals an
unforeseen hazard that would not be picked up by standard toxicity tests.
Environmental groups say this is the first evidence of toxicity caused by the
process of genetic engineering itself.
13 February 1999: The British government rejects calls for a moratorium amid
allegations that it is in the pocket of the biotech industry.
14 February 1999: Further claims of a cover-up surface when it is revealed
that the Rowett received £140 000 of funding from GM food giant Monsanto
before the Pusztai affair blew up. Newspaper reports also claim the British
government offered millions of pounds in inducements to encourage biotech
firms to invest in Britain.
15 February 1999: Members of the government show signs of bowing to media and
public pressure. Environment minister Michael Meacher says he will bring
wildlife specialists onto the committee that oversees the release ofGM crops
into the environment, which has come under fire for being dominated by
scientists associated with the biotech industry. He also floats the idea of
establishing a "GM food commission". Meanwhile, opposition politicians call
for the resignation of science minister Lord Sainsbury, who in the past has
invested in companies with interests in GM products.
16 February 1999: The gagging order placed on Pusztai in August is lifted and
his "alternative" report is published on the internet at
www.rri.sari.ac.uk/press/.
>From New Scientist, 20 February 1999
© Copyright New Scientist, RBI Limited 1999
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Robert F. Tatman
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