Herbicides

Upon request from the European Commission, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) was asked to develop guiding principles that would aid the future establishment of protocols for chronic toxicity and/or carcinogenicity studies in rodents with whole food/feed. It was agreed that this EFSA scientific report would be a commentary on OECD TG 453, with specific considerations related to whole food/feed. The mandate was assigned to an internal EFSA task force composed of staff members with different key scientific expertise and was endorsed by the EFSA Scientific Committee. Experts in the role of external reviewers and Member State representatives of the EFSA GMO Network provided valuable comments during the development of the document. This scientific report comments on the applicability of OECD Test Guideline 453 for the carcinogenicity and chronic toxicity testing of chemicals (OECD, 2009a) for the purpose of testing whole food/feed. The report includes specific recommendations for performing and reporting experiments carried out with whole food/feed. These recommendations are in line with the guiding principles previously developed in the EFSA scientific opinion on conducting repeated-dose 90-day oral toxicity studies in rodents with whole food/feed.

The editor of the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology (FCT), Dr A. Wallace Hayes, has decided to retract the study by the team of Prof Gilles-Eric Séralini, which found that rats fed a Monsanto genetically modified (GM) maize NK603 and tiny amounts of the Roundup herbicide it is grown with suffered severe toxic effects, including kidney and liver damage and increased rates of tumours and mortality.[1] GMWatch believes FCT’s retraction of Prof Séralini’s paper to be illicit, unscientific, and unethical. It violates the guidelines for retractions in scientific publishing set out by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE),[2] of which FCT is a member.[3]. Video: http://www.activistpost.com/2013/12/how-monsanto-silences-scientific-di…

Le chercheur français Gilles-Éric Séralini a contesté jeudi le retrait de son étude controversée sur les effets d'OGM consommés par des rats, parue en septembre 2012, par la revue scientifique qui l'avait publiée. "Nous refusons le retrait de l'article", a affirmé le scientifique au cours d'une conférence de presse à Bruxelles. Le chercheur a dénoncé "des pressions insupportables" et souligné que l'éditeur de la revue Food and Chemical Toxicology (groupe Elsevier) n'avait relevé "ni fraude, ni mauvaise interprétation des données" dans son étude. "Les résultats présentés, s'ils ne sont pas incorrects, ne permettent pas de conclure", a estimé le responsable éditorial de Food and Chemical Toxicology dans un courrier adressé à Gilles-Éric Séralini, daté du 19 novembre. En conséquence, l'article a été retiré de la revue. "Nous maintenons nos conclusions", a répondu Gilles-Éric Séralini, dans une réponse adressée à la revue, dont un groupe de scientifiques avait évalué l'étude avant sa publication, conformément aux règles habituelles. Le scientifique a relié cette décision de retrait à "l'arrivée dans le comité éditorial de la revue de Richard Goodman, un biologiste qui a travaillé plusieurs années chez Monsanto".

I know the answer to the question in the headline, but almost no one will believe me. The drastic decline in the quail (Coturnix coturnix) population throughout the South has been a passionate concern of mine for many years. The tragic and drastic decline in quail and other field-bird populations is the result of the massive and widespread spraying of herbicides by agriculture and forestry industries. I am as sure of this as I am that night follows day. There is a curious and almost hostile resistance to this assertion. I have written many letters to various groups and agencies that assume an authoritative role in such problems, but my efforts are always met with an almost hostile indifference. More specifically, I believe that Quail Unlimited and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Deptartment are more a part of the problem than the solution. To my knowledge, they have no experimental data to support their position that herbicides have no significant effect on field-bird populations. I have suggested that Quail Unlimited spray their Quail Demonstration Project acreages with herbicide and see what happens, but they declined.

The study, published Wednesday in the journal Cell, also identified the mechanism by which the chemicals induce Parkinson’s in those with the mutation. Stuart Lipton of the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute was the study’s senior author. Scott D. Ryan, also of the institute, was first author. Pesticide exposure has long been known as an increased risk factor for Parkinson’s, which gradually reduces the ability to move. However, the reasons for this vulnerability are unknown. The study found one genetic cause; others may also be involved. Environmental factors help determine whether Parkinson's actually develops, the scientists say.