A study done by some French scientists on GM corn has caused a flutter in scientific circles, as it is said to be the first published long-term animal feeding trial of GM on health and safety.
Robin Mesnage one of the scientists who did the trial told Business Standard that he and the rest of the scientists led by Professor Seralini started the study two years ago in Unviersity of Caen in France. "It was all done in utmost secrecy. No one knew about it till we published the study in a journal this month," he says.
The rats which were fed GM maize developed tumours after 13 months. Normally trials are conducted only for 90 days or three months. Even European Union which has stringent regulations asks for trials that last for 90 days, says Dr Doug Gurian Sherman senior scientist Food and Environment Programme, and Union of Concerned Scientists in the United States. He said that the US also did not insist on long term trials on GM crops.
Sherman who is here to attend a GMO conference and describes himself as not anti-GMO said that he was against certain issues like lack of regulations and lack of freedom to research on GMOs that keep everything non transparent.
Mesnage whose study on rats fed on GM corn has been published in Food and Toxicology journal on September 19 said that the main problem about GM food was that research was obstructed by the intellectual property right instruments which do not allow researchers to do long term research.
He said that the research in his case was carried out in utmost secrecy without the knowledge of the institute or the seed company.
He said 200 rats were used in the trials and the outcome in those fed GM corn was increased and more rapid mortality, coupled with hormonal non linear and sex related effects. Females developed significant and numerous mammary tumours, pituitary and kidney problems. Males died mostly from severe hepatorenal chronic deficiencies.
Dr Doug Gurian Sherman said that he had problems with some aspects of the study though he accepted it in large parts. The number of animals used in the controlled study was smaller than desirable. But the same protocols are used by the industry too. If the study is found to be flawed then it raises questions at all the studies sponsored by the industry too, says Sherman.
Indian GMO activist Kavita Karuganti of the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture said that while patents obstructed long term research abroad, in India the public sector institutes are inviting trouble by courting seed companies not knowing what lies ahead.
Acientist and activist Suman Sahai said that Professor Sellerini 's study in University of Caen is a big eye opener. It confirms what a lot of studies even in India are pointing at. The studies have been there but no one has the courage to publish them, she says.
