TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK
Who Smells a Rat?What do you do when your scientific journal publishes a study that Monsanto doesn’t like? And the industry bombards you with complaints?
You hire a new editor. And retract the study.
In September 2012, the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology (FCT)
published the findings of the first long-term study of rats fed genetically modified corn. The study’s authors, led by Gilles-Eric Séralini of the University of Caen, France, concluded that the GM corn caused cancerous tumors in the test rats.
The biotech industry wasted no time attacking the study, which was released about a month before Californians were set to vote “yes” or “no” on an initiative to require labels on foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The attacks were predictable. But who would have predicted what followed next?
Not long after the study came out, FCT created a new editorial position—Associate Editor for Biotechnology—and appointed none other than a former Monsanto employee, Richard E. Goodman, to the post.
Organic Bytes #405 Story