How the GM industry is killing off uncomfortable research.

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Courtesy -> GMWATCH Bulletin. Press release from GM Free CymruImmediate release==============================GM SCIENCE -- SUPPORTED BY A TISSUE OF LIESRevealed -- how the GM industry kills off "uncomfortable" research=========================Fact: Two years ago, when Prof Bela Darvas and his colleagues in theHungarian Academy of Sciences revealed a massive buildup of toxinsassociated with plantings of a GM maize called MON810, and indicated thatthey wanted to repeat and extend their research, Monsanto immediatelyshut off supplies of seeds and effectively killed off the researchproject.Fact: In 2005, when Dr Judy Carman asked Bayer CropScience for 100g ofGM InVigor canola seeds for field tests in Australia, the companysimply ignored her request and made the research impossible.These cases are by no means unique

(1).----------------------------Within the GM science community there has been concern for severalyears about the "corporate control" of the scientific agenda and aboutthedifficulties encountered by independent researchers who have discovered"uncomfortable" things about the health and environmental impacts of GMcrops and foods (2).There is also concern about the manner in which the regulatoryauthorities have comprehensively ditched the precautionary principle,and aboutthe vast list of "junk science" articles in the literature based uponthe nonsensical concept of "substantial equivalence" (3).Genuinely independent GM research is made extremely difficult becauseof lack of funding; because of the hostility of regulatory and advisorybodies such as ACNFP, FSA, ACRE and EFSA and indeed of GovernmentDepartments like DEFRA; because august scientific institutions like theRoyal Society are robustly

pro-GM; because the GM lobby is wellpracticed in the dark arts of obfuscation and spin; and becausescientists whoquestion the safety of GM are routinely personally vilified by theindustry. Dr Arpad Pusztai, Dr Mae-wan Ho and Dr Ignacio Chapela havebeenknocked over and have come up fighting (4), but there are many otherswho have simply been silenced and subdued by the hired hit-men of the GMindustry (5).It has now been revealed that the GM industry routinely refuses tosupply GM seed and other GM "reference material" to bona fide scientistswho ask for it, citing as justification patent protection and "commercialin confidence" rules (6). In the case of the Bt10 fiasco, Syngentaeven refused to send to the EC reference materials needed by researchlaboratories for the development of a testing and monitoring programme(7)."This means that one of the fundamental principles of science has

nowbeen abandoned, with the apparent connivance of certain governments,"says Dr Brian John of GM Free Cymru. "Science has always operated on theassumption that experiments must be replicable in order that resultsmay be verified or falsified. But if the GM multinationals refuse toallow their GM seeds and reference materials to be examined by anybodyother than their own scientists, there is no way that anybody shouldtrusttheir results, whether or not they have been through a peer reviewprocess. Integrity is immediately swept away, and corruption takes itsplace."GM Free Cymru has therefore made the following demands:1. We demand that all owners of GM seed and reference materials whohave submitted experimental results in support of their applications forGM consents must state unequivocally, in writing, that identicalmaterials are available to bona fide researchers who wish to repeat

thepublished experiments.2. We demand that the regulatory bodies which have issued "opinions"or given consents for GM crops and foods should immediately revoke thosedecisions pending the receipt of assurances as in (1) above.3. We demand that all applications in the regulatory pipeline shouldbe placed on hold until (a) the applicants have given assurances thatevery single experiment described in supporting dossiers may be repeatedby independent researchers without let or hindrance, and (b) allpublished results are verified independently.4. We call upon all journals which publish GM-related papers (whetheror not peer-reviewed) to refuse to publish unless and until they have awritten commitment from the seed owners that they will freely provideidentical GM materials for the conduct of repeat experiments byindependent researchers.5. We call upon all scientists working in the GM field, no

matter whattheir affiliations may be, to support these demands so that integrityand respect for scientific principles may be restored."These are minimum demands," says Dr John. "The on-going refusal by GMmultinationals to provide GM materials to independent researchers is ascientific outrage. Until the demands are met, we have to assume thatGM crops and foods are dangerous, that industry-sponsored publishedresearch is untrustworthy, and that the GM approval process is supportedby a flimsy tissue of lies." (8)ENDSContact:Brian JohnTel 01239-820470------------------NOTES1. See this for example: http://www.gefreemaine.org/index.php?page=13GM Free Cymru is building a dossier of cases involving refusals by theGM seed owners to supply seed and other materials to respectedscientists

and research laboratories. Check for updates here: http://www.gmfreecymru.org/2. There is a large literature on the vilification of dissentingscientists, the use of personal attacks as a diversionary tactic, andof theuse of spinning and dissembling techniques whenever the GM industryneeds to deal with "uncomfortable" evidence of harm relating to GFM foodand crops. See Jeffrey Smith's book "Seeds of Deception" (2004), GreenBooks, or see the following:http://www.seedsofdeception.com/http://www.gmwatch.org/http://www.i-sis.org.uk/appeal.phphttp://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5989http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199899/cmselect/cmsctech/\286/9030804.htm3. On the Precautionary Principle:http://www.biotech-info.net/in_defense.htmlhttp://www.i-sis.org.uk/prec.phphttp://www.mindfully.org/Precaution/2003/Science-Based-Precaution4apr03.htmOn Substantial equivalence:http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/downloaddoc.asp?id=1050Prof Janet

Bainbridge: "The presumption of safety of novel GM plantson the basis of substantial equivalence lacks scientific credibility,given modern expectations of standards of evidencehttp://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/substequiv.cfm"Beyond Substantial equivalence", Oct. 7, 1999, Nature, by ErikMillstone, Eric Brunner and Sue Mayer"Showing that a genetically modified food is chemically similar to itsnatural counterpart is not adequate evidence that it is safe for humanconsumption."4. When confronted with uncomfortable evidence, the first instinct ofthe GM industry is to "shoot the messenger." See the following:http://counterpunch.org/tonak06262004.htmlhttp://www.mindfully.org/GE/2005/Chapela-State-Enemy19jan05.htmhttp://www.healthcoalition.ca/pusztai.htmlhttp://www.psrast.org/pusztai.htm5. See Jeffrey Smith, "Seeds of Deception". During the Nazi era inGermany "....... far from being subjected to force, many scientistsvoluntarily oriented their work to fit government policies - as a way ofgetting money and of exploiting the new resources that Nazi policiesmade available ......... Most researchers, it turns out, seem to haveregarded the regime not as a threat, but as an opportunity for theirresearch ambitions." (Nature, 7 April 2005)Encouraging the people of Britain to stand up to Hitler, WinstonChurchill said this: "....... if we fail, the whole world,

including theUnites States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sinkinto the abyss of a new Dark Age, made more sinister, and perhaps moreprotracted, by the lights of perverted science." (June 18th, 1940)6. http://www.gefreemaine.org/index.php?page=13Date: 25 May 20057. Syngenta Dodgy Dossier -- GM Free Cymruhttp://www.gmfreecymru.org/news/Press_Notice8December2005.htm 8. For an example of the "dodgy science" used in support of GMapplications for approval, see this:http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=66 & page=1----------- "Our ideal is not the spirituality that withdraws from life but the conquest of life by the power of the spirit." - Aurobindo.

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