Researchers from the University of Caen, France have found tumours in rats fed a lifetime diet of Monsanto’s genetically modified maize.

The study, published on Wednesday (19th September) in the peer reviewed journal Food and Chemical Toxicology, revealed rats fed on Monsanto’s glyphosate-resistant NK603 seeds, or given water contaminated with glyphosate (sold as Roundup by the company) died earlier than a control group and suffered tumours and organ damage. The perturbing findings were unveiled at an event in London on Wednesday.

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According to Gilles-Eric Seralini, who led the research, rats fed on the GM diet suffered liver and kidney damage and mammary tumours. 50 per cent of male rats and 70 per cent of females on the GM diet died prematurely, compared to 20 and 30 per cent in the control group. Tumours also tended to develop earlier in rats fed on the GM diet.

The researchers who conducted the tests are known to be staunch critics of the GM industry, and have previously conducted research which found similar results in rats. In 2009, research conducted by a number of French institutions, which included work by Seralini, demonstrated that rats fed on varieties of GM maize suffered side effects which researchers put down to the novel organisms in their diet. The varieties tested included including NK 603 and MON 810, the only GM crop currently licensed for cultivation in the EU.

The researchers said then that their investigation “clearly reveals… side- effects linked with GM maize consumption, which were sex- and often dose-dependent. Effects were mostly associated with the kidney and liver; the dietary detoxifying organs.” They concluded that, judging by the effect on rats, “Unintended direct or indirect metabolic consequences of the genetic modification cannot be excluded.”

Whereas that study was conducted over a shorter space of time (three months), the Food and Chemical Toxicology study tracks rats’ progress throughout their 2 year lifespan. The researchers said they feel their latest findings give a more authoritative and substantial evidence base to their concerns than their previous work, which Monsanto dismissed in 2009.

Professor Seralini said on Wednesday, “After less than a year of different GMO maize menus there was carnage among our rats to a degree I had not imagined.”

The French government has ordered national health and safety watchdog ANSES to investigate the findings. Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll, Ecology Minister Delphine Batho and Health and Social Affairs Minister Marisol Touraine announced they had commissioned an investigation into the findings on Wednesday. Cultivation of GM crops is currently banned in France, though the European Food Safety Authority had previously deemed NK603 to be "as safe as conventional maize."

Some scientists have been quick to criticise the study, suggesting the type of rat used in the experiments is prone to tumours, particularly mammary tumours, and especially if the rats’ food intake is not restricted. However, sceptics maintain that, as GM crops are such a novel invention and their use is often strictly guarded by patent owners, no information available would clearly demonstrate whether or not the crops are safe.   

In response to calls made last week by the UK government’s environmental watchdog to tighten regulation and scrutiny on GM crops, over potential environmental and safety concerns, Defra effectively admitted that money, rather than science would govern its decision making on the matter of GM. A department spokesperson said Defra is concerned with ensuring “choice can be exercised and economic interests appropriately protected” and expressed the intention to “Leave the normal operation of the market to determine whether or not an approved GM product gains acceptance.”

The Environmental Audit Committee, which reviews government policy decisions from an environmental perspective, had called on Westminster to introduce “Additional conditionalities applied to GM crops beyond those which form part of the EU environmental risk assessment and authorisation procedure,” and recommended that “A new independent body should be established to research, evaluate and report on the potential impacts on the environment of GM crops, and their impacts on farming and on the global food system.”

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