In September 2012, Dr. Gilles-Eric Séralini published research findings in the peer reviewed Journal of Food and Chemical Toxicology. These findings showed the toxic impact of Monsanto’s herbicide and GMO corn–including adverse health effects on rats. However, after publication, the Journal made the unprecedented decision to retract the study.
The Journal of Food and Chemical Toxicology’s editor, Dr. A. Wallace Hayes, admits that none of the established criteria for retracting a study applied to the Seralini paper. However, a new connection between the journal and Monsanto might account for the retraction, as well as another retraction of a similar study from Brazil that demonstrated the toxic effects on mice of an insecticide that forms the basis of the Bt GMO crops. After these papers were published the Journal of Food and Chemical Toxicology created a new position: the Associate Editor for Biotechnology. The Journal then selected Richard E. Goodman, from the University of Nebraska, to fill the position and preside over such retractions. As it turns out, Goodman worked in Regulatory Sciences for Monsanto from 1997-2004.
Neither the journal’s retraction of Séralini’s research nor its implications were covered by corporate media, reflecting a trend in which science critical of GMOs is sidelined and dismissed by special interests promoting them.
Sources:
E. Ann Clark, “Orwellian Airbrushing of Scientific Record,” GMWatch, November 30, 2013, http://gmwatch.org/index.php/news/archive/2013/15192-orwellian-airbrushing-ofscientific-record.
James Corbett, “Genetic Fallacy: How Monsanto Silences Scientific Dissent,” The Corbett Report, December 3, 2013, http://www.corbettreport.com/genetic-fallacy-how-monsanto-silences-scientific-dissent/.
Student Researcher: Katelyn Parks (San Francisco State University)
Faculty Evaluator: Kenn Burrows (San Francisco State University)