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New Study by UK Scientist Underlines Health Hazards of Frankenfoods

Sunday Times (London, UK)
By Jonathan Leake
<http://www.agbios.com/main.php?action=ShowNewsItem&id=4339
May 4, 2003

Scientist who pressed GM panic button raises new food health fears

A scientist who shocked the world with research claiming that genetically
modified (GM) crops might damage human health is to release new findings
supporting his warnings, writes Jonathan Leake.

Arpad Pusztai, who lost his job at the prestigious Rowett Research
Institute in Aberdeen after outlining his findings in a television programme in
1998, will publish the new research this week.

It warns that the work carried out by biotechnology companies into the human
health hazard from GM food is inadequate and unsafe. It also points to
technical defects in the way GM plants are created.

Pusztai's study is contained in a book called Food Safety, a compilation of
scientific papers which describes the contaminants and toxins contained in
modern foods. In his section, Pusztai brings together all the scientific
studies carried out into the safety of GM foods and subjects them to
rigorous statistical and scientific scrutiny.

This weekend he said: "We found that there are only a few such studies and
they show many problems. In particular, they illustrate that GM foods have
never been publicly tested for their safety and wholesomeness. There is
increasing research to show they may actually be very unsafe."

The research comes at a crucial time. This autumn the Royal Society is
expected to publish the results of the government-sponsored field trials
of GM crops. The government is also about to sponsor a nationwide
debate on the issue.

However, Britain's Food Standards Agency has completed separate research
appearing to confirm some of Pusztai's warnings. It showed that genetically
modified DNA in plants can be taken up by gut bacteria in humans and
animals. This finding was contrary to previous assurances from biotechnology
firms, which had said DNA would be broken down in the gut shortly after
consumption.

It raises the possibility that alien genes inserted into crop plants and
conferring properties such as antibiotic resistance could be passed on to
bacteria, making them resistant, too.

Pusztai had been a plant researcher at the Rowett Institute until he appeared
in a World in Action documentary on GM foods to describe how rats
fed on GM potatoes had suffered gut lesions, retarded growth and other
symptoms.

He spoke fewer than a dozen sentences but his words reverberated around
the world, infuriating GM firms and the scientific establishment. They claimed
his research had been poorly done and that he should not have revealed the
results before having it reviewed by peers.

However, it was later approved and published in the medical journal The
Lancet.

Pusztai's first warnings have been echoed by the Royal Society. Its experts
last year concluded that GM crops could offer substantial benefits but
said too little was known about their potential health impact.

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