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MONSANTO

Lab denies access to GM cancer crop study

The French scientist who linked Monsanto genetically-modified corn to cancer in rats on Thursday refused to let the EU's food safety watchdog, EFSA, verify his results.

Published: 20 September 2012 17:48 CEST
Lab denies access to GM cancer crop study
Photo: Sarah Fleming

"It's out of the question that those who authorised (Monsanto's) NK603 carry out a counter-study of our findings as there'd be a conflict of interest," Gilles-Eric Seralini said at a news conference at the European Parliament. 

EFSA, which authorises the sale and planting of GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms), was asked by the European Union executive Wednesday for an opinion as soon as possible, hopefully by year's end, on a study headed by Seralini.

His research team at France's University of Caen found that rats fed on NK603 corn or exposed to the weedkiller used with it developed tumours.

NK603, a corn also called maize, is made by US agribusiness giant Monsanto and was engineered to make it resistant to Monsanto herbicide Roundup. This enables farmers to use the weedkiller in a single go, enabling substantial savings.

But for EFSA to rule on the findings, it would need to see the study's original data.

Centre-right MEP Corinne Lepage, a former French environment minister, said: "We don't want people who authorised GMOs to be carrying out the counter-study."

France will seek an immediate EU ban on imports of the corn if the study linking it to cancer in rats is deemed credible, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Thursday.

The authors of the study have said it is the first experiment in GM food that followed rats throughout their lifespan, as opposed to just 90 days.

But their methodology and results and its relevance to humans have been questioned by other experts.

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MONSANTO

French police to probe alleged Monsanto lists on opinion-makers

France has opened a preliminary enquiry into allegations that US pesticides maker Monsanto had information illegally collected on the views and pliability of hundreds of high-profile figures and media outlets.

Published: 11 May 2019 08:49 CEST
French police to probe alleged Monsanto lists on opinion-makers
Activists from the 'Attac' protest group scale the offices of Bayer -which recently acquired Monsanto- in La Garenne Colombes near the financial district of La Defence on the outskirts of Paris. Photo
Paris judicial police will carry out the probe following a complaint by the daily Le Monde and one of its journalists, whose names appear on the list, the Paris prosecutor's office said.
 
Two anti-pesticide NGOs — Foodwatch and Generations Futures — are also preparing to lodge legal complaints over the alleged lists.
 
The investigators will look into the possible “collection of personal information by fraudulent, unfair or illicit means”.
   
US giant Monsanto allegedly had public relations agency FleishmanHillard draw up the files on the opinions of the targeted people and media bodies on the controversial weedkiller glyphosate and on genetically modified crops as 
well as their propensity to be influenced in their opinions.
 
 
Figuring on the list are politicians, scientists and journalists — including four from AFP (Agence France-Presse). Information was collected on their views on pesticides and on Monsanto as well as their leisure pursuits, addresses and phone numbers, according to the France 2 public television channel.
   
Some of the names were listed under categories such as “priority targets” and “potential allies to recruit”, according to reports.
   
France's former environment minister Segolene Royal, whose name was said to appear on the lists, said the allegation “says a lot about the methods of lobbyists… they carry out spying, infiltration, seek to influence, sometimes financially I imagine”, adding that other companies are likely to indulge in similar practices.
   
A spokesman for FleishmanHillard told AFP: “FleishmanHillard and our staff are committed to compliance with applicable laws and we are committed to the highest standards of ethical conduct. 
   
“We continue to take that responsibility very seriously and will carefully examine the questions raised by certain media outlets about the lists of stakeholders that included publicly available information.”
   
Glyphosate developer Monsanto was convicted in the United States in 2018 and 2019 of not taking necessary steps to warn of the potential risks of Roundup — their weedkiller containing the chemical, which two California juries found caused cancer in two users.
   
German pharmaceutical firm Bayer, which bought Monsanto last year, announced last month that over 13,000 lawsuits related to the weedkiller have been launched in the US. 
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