Monsanto on the side of science? How scientists who investigate the safety of GM foods are treated

[Ichingcarpenter]

When Australian scientist Judy Carman decided to carry out an animal feeding study with GM crops, she asked three GMO companies to supply seeds. One company didn’t reply; another wanted the details of her study first.

Monsanto sent her a legal document to sign stating that she would give the company the results of the study before publication. Carman said: ‘We would have been legally bound to do that whether they gave us seeds or not. No sensible scientist would agree to such conditions, and we didn’t.’

Scientists who want to find out if a GM crop is safe to eat or harms the environment need access to seeds of the GM variety as well as the non-GM parent (isogenic) variety it was developed from, grown in the same conditions.

This way, any differences found in an experiment studying the effects of the GM crop and the non-GM control are known to be due to the genetic modification and not to some other factor, such as different growing conditions.

But Monsanto and other GMO companies restrict access to their seeds for independent researchers.1,2 Anyone who buys Monsanto’s patented GM seed has to sign a technology agreement saying they will not use the seeds or crop for research or pass them to anyone else for that purpose.3 Even if permission to carry out research is given, companies typically retain the right to block publication if the results are ‘not flattering’, according to Scientific American.4

In the end, Carman used non-isogenic crops for the control pigs’ diet, noting that GMO companies had claimed, and many government authorities had agreed, that the GM crops used were ‘substantially equivalent’ to non-GM crops. She found toxic effects in the GM-fed pigs – so the GM crops could not be substantially equivalent.5

The French scientist Gilles-Eric Séralini also had........................................


more: http://newint.org/features/2015/04/01/monsanto-science-safety/

[upaloopa]

1. If you don't trust GMOs you are a stupid science

hating fool. Everyone on this board should know that by now.

[immoderate]

2. True 'dat.

Only GMOs can save us from the anti-science demons.

--imm

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. USDA scientists are being harassed when their work runs counter to the interests of the agrichemical

U.S. Right to Know sent letters today to the chairs and ranking members of the U.S. Senate and House Agriculture Committees, and to the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, requesting aninvestigation of a possible cover up for Monsanto, and whether USDA scientists are being harassed when their work runs counter to the interests of the agrichemical industry.

The letters are in reaction to a March 27 Reuters article that, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, "some scientists working for the federal government are finding their research restricted or censored when it conflicts with agribusiness industry interests….at least 10 USDA scientists have been investigated or faced other consequences arising from research that called into question the safety of certain agricultural chemicals….Research into glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, and neonicotinoid insecticides, which have been linked to honey bee and monarch butterfly endangerment, face particular scrutiny…"

"If true, this is a major scandal at USDA. It is not the proper role of the USDA to engage in a cover up forMonsanto or other agrichemical companies," wrote Gary Ruskin, executive director of consumer advocacy group U.S. Right to Know. "It is intolerable that the agribusiness and agrichemical should be able to interfere with USDAscientists and their work. Those scientists work for the public, not Monsanto nor the agrichemical industry. They must be fully insulated from the political pressure of the agribusiness and agrichemical industries. It is crucial tothe public interest that they do their work without industry harassment or obstruction. The integrity of the USDA is at stake."

The letters urged the House and Senate Agriculture Committees and the USDA Inspector General to conduct full and thorough investigations into corporate interference with USDA scientists, to publicly release any evidence of industry interference with USDA scientists, and to ensure that such interference never happens again.

http://truth-out.org/speakout/item/29987-usrtk-calls-for-investigation-of-monsanto-cover-up-harassment-of-usda-scientists

[Scuba]

4. Monsanto appears to be afraid of science and truth. Wonder why?