2018
Volume 18, Number 1, pp. 32–56
Retraction by corruption: the 2012 Séralini paper
Eva Novotny
Clare Hall, Herschel Road, Cambridge, CB3 9AL, United Kingdom
On 19 September 2012 a paper written by the group led by G.-E. Séralini was published online and then in print in the November 2012 issue of Food and Chemical Toxicology. The study reported in the paper examined the effects on the health of rats of a genetically engineered maize, Monsanto’s NK603, and of the herbicide Roundup the maize is designed to tolerate. The paper elicited severe criticism from individual scientists and organizations, including some regulators and learned societies. Critical Letters to the Editor resulted in the retraction of the paper by the Editor-in-Chief of the journal, not on any scientific grounds but solely because the study was “inconclusive”. Proponents of genetic engineering claim, wrongly, that there is now a consensus that genetically modified crops are safe to consume. To maintain that stance, it is necessary to destroy the credibility of any scientific evidence to the contrary and also the reputations of the researchers who obtained such evidence. In some cases even the institutions where the work was carried out and the journals publishing the results are attacked. Monsanto Company, in particular, has a huge financial stake in genetically modified crops and Roundup. Conflicts of interest of individuals, corporations and regulators have in the past triumphed over scientific evidence of harm. Private documents from the company, released by a law court in August 2017, reveal covert manoeuvring by Monsanto to have the Séralini et al. paper retracted, in which the then Editor-in-Chief of the journal colluded. To this day the earlier, demonstrably flawed, research by Monsanto scientists finding NK603 to be “safe and nutritious” remains in print in the same journal. Meanwhile, the serious implications for public health have been disregarded by Monsanto, the critics and the regulators. Unfortunately, the “Séralini affair” is not unique.
Keywords: EFSA, Monsanto, regulation, tumours