“I have no ideological grounds against Monsanto. For me it’s the scientific argument. They have not done a proper job of testing, and they are just using their political and economic muscle to foist it on us.”(Professor Arpad Putsztai, quoted in The Guardian, 2008)

“Censorship of research into the risks of a technology so intertwined with global food safety undermines the value and credibility of science.” (Professor Dr. Jonathan Lundgren, 2013)

Numerous new medicines and medical devices have been marketed with claims that declare them to be “safe and effective” – which is a compelling marketing slogan, though devoid of scientific proof. Such claims are facilitated by collusion between the pharmaceutical industry and authoritative government agencies, aided by leading scientists (“key opinion leaders” known within industry as KOLs) and renowned scientific institutions. Internal FDA documents confirm that genetic engineered/modified food products (widely known as GMOs), entered the U.S. food supply without having been subjected to scientifically rigorous safety tests as is mandated by law.

Flawed risk assessment of pesticide infused GE food products
One of the confounding issues in establishing chemical toxicity is the limited focus of industry-sponsored research that examines only acute toxic reactions in laboratory animal trials. Failure to measure the cumulative effects of chronic ingestion of minute residue amounts of a poisonous chemical over a long period of time has enabled the pesticide and GMO industry to deny that these poisonous chemicals pose any serious health risks. This flawed risk assessment criteria is used to determine the risks posed by the systemic neurotoxic pesticides – neonicotinoids  – which are absorbed into a plant’s roots, stems, leaves, flowers, pollen, and nectar. They are genetically implanted into the seed where they are fully incorporated into the plant’s DNA tissue, and are present in pollen and nectar exposing not only pests, but bees and butterflies to their poisonous effects.

GMOs entered the market through the perversion of science, the corruption of government by politically appointed bureaucrats whose allegiance was with industry.  (Read AHRP Post How Monsanto Rigged the System through politics and propaganda)  In 2003, a congressional committee report, documented political interference and manipulation of scientific research at federal agencies charged with developing science-based public health policies.

“The Administration’s political interference with science has led to misleading statements by the President, inaccurate responses to Congress, altered web sites, suppressed agency reports, erroneous international communications, and the gagging of scientists.”

The American public has been systematically deceived about the safety of GMOs by promotional pieces that were penned by prominent academics who were secretly in the service of the GMO industry. Often the pronouncements were issued by prominent scientific institutions, including the American Academy of Sciences and the British Royal Society who regard their role as “filtering the news” – filtering is the equivalent of  censoring inconvenient evidence.

Michael Antoniou, a molecular geneticist from King’s College London, and two colleagues recently published an extensive review of several hundred previous GM food studies. He concluded that the technologies used to produce GM foods were imprecise, and despite assurances of total safety, the current licensing mechanisms – even in the EU – are perfunctory, with much research funded by the producers themselves using only short-term studies that gave no insight into the long-term effects. He also noted the lack of large-scale human trials.

 “The world of GMO studies is not what it seems at first glance. For example, a list of several hundred studies that were claimed to show GMO safety turned out to show nothing of the sort on closer examination (see Myth 2.3). It is padded with articles irrelevant to GMO safety and contains many papers that provide evidence for harm. We aim to equip members of the public with the tools to make their own judgments on such lists of studies.” (GMO Myths and Truths: An Evidence-Based Examination of the Claims Made for the Safety and Efficacy of Genetically Modified Crops and Foods, by John Fagan, PhD, Michael Antoniou, PhD and Claire Robinson, 2012; Second edition, 2014)

Dr Jonathan Lundgren of USDA-ARS (right) with CIAT entomologist Dr Kris Wyckhuys

The suppression of GMO science is enforced not only by an echelon of corporate henchmen, but by government and academic institutions which depend on funding from both of these   intertwined sources. Under the Obama administration, the US Department of Agriculture  (USDA) has taken the position of dictating what science is permissible. The USDA guidelines admonish scientists from drawing science- based conclusions that have “real-world implications.”

“[Scientists] should refrain from making statements that could be construed as being judgments … on USDA or any other federal government policy, either intentionally or inadvertently.” In other words, “You can do whatever science you like, so long as it doesn’t have real-world implications…The rules allow for scientists to be silenced based on the content of their science.”(The Washington Post, Oct. 2015)

If scientists are prevented from drawing science-based conclusions that have “real-world implications,” then public policies formulated under such restrictions are not applicable in the “real-world” either.  If these policies are not applicable in the “real-world”, they are, by definition, irrelevant and unsupportable.

“The USDA has relied on industry-friendly interpretations of science in several recent high-profile actions, including approvals of new genetically modified crops and  criticisms of an Environmental Protection Agency neonicotinoid review. (The Atlantic, Nov. 2015)

The agrochemical industry and its financially compromised academics and government agency officials regard scientists who challenge the “GMOs are safe” mantra as posing an intolerable threat. Daniel Glickman, who served under the Clinton Administration as Secretary of USDA from 1995 until 2001, said that when he dared to question the lax regulations for GM food, he “got slapped around a little bit by not only the industry, but also some of the people even in the administration.”  (The World According to Monsanto (2008) Glickman confirmed that an imposed institutionalized “group think” prohibits any critical analysis when risky new technology is involved:

“It was almost immoral to say that [biotechnology] wasn’t good, because it was going to solve the problems of the human race and feed the hungry and clothe the naked. . . . If you’re against it, you’re Luddites, you’re stupid. That, frankly, was the side our government was on. . . . You felt like you were almost an alien, disloyal, by trying to present an open-minded view on the issues raised.” (Dinner at the New Gene Café: How Genetic Engineering Is Changing What We Eat (2002) by Bill Lambrecht, p. 139)

The War against honest scientists who question the science & safety of GMOs
Scientific disagreements about the safety of GMOs quickly devolve into ad hominem attacks; and scientists who dare to question the scientific basis for declaring GMOs safe, are quickly ostracized, marginalized, discredited and relegated to the ranks of pervaders of “junk science.”  They are subjected to vicious personal attacks, and smear campaigns.

“Recent disclosed documents have [ ] exposed numerous scientific experts [who were] enlisted in Monsanto’s messaging. But what is most pernicious is that a whole new rhetorical talking point has come to the forefront, which threatens anyone – particularly scientists – who speak out against their “tent pole” technology: If you are anti-GMOs you are anti-science…[It’s] a brilliant strategy to promote genetic engineering.” (GMO Propaganda  by Kristine Mattis. Counter Punch, October 2015)

Wall of secrecy, deception & collusion hampers independent scientists
A major hurdle hampering independent scientists from studying the impact of GM seeds and pesticides is industry’s refusal to share either the ingredients of its products for independent analysis or to disclose its own safety data, by invoking patent protection. What’s more, pesticide manufacturers are required to disclose only the chemical structure of their declared “active” ingredients, while concealing the identity of the adjuvants, which they claim are confidential, proprietary information. Industry has thereby erected a wall of secrecy. For many years no one knew what other chemicals in addition to glyphosate were in products such as Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup, let alone how these chemicals might affect either health or the environment. (Counter Punch, 2015)

When President Obama took office in 2008, he pledged to restore a scientific integrity corroded during the Bush Administration. The evidence, however, demonstrates that under the Obama administration the scientific integrity and basis for US food policies have suffered further corrosion. The agrochemical industry, its hired academics, and government officials who set public policies regard scientists who challenge the mantra that “GMOs are safe” as posing an intolerable threat to industry’s financial interests and to the policies that promote these interests. However that pledge never materialized. The public continues to be deceived; the mainstream corporate media has mostly failed to report the nature and magnitude of fraud documented in these internal FDA memos.

Marie-Monique Robin is an award winning French journalist whose highly acclaimed, prize winning book and documentary – The World According to Monsanto (2011)  has been compared to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. The book was the catalyst for an international debate, having been translated into 13 languages. In an interview with Organic Consumers Association, she observed:

 “It’s very strange: whenever scientists have decided to start a serious toxicological study on the effects of GMOs, they have lost their jobs. This happened to the biochemist Arpad Pusztai in Scotland and Manuela Malatesta when she was a researcher at the University of Urbino. It is a recurring phenomenon. It is alarming, people wonder, what will happen to me? Monsanto has silenced academics, journalists and anyone who has ventured to criticize or expose them. That’s why I say there is a real problem with GMOs, otherwise there would be transparent and accessible studies.”

Honest scientists whose scientific explorations raise concerns about uncertainties and potential risks that industry vigorously denies, risk their professional careers. Scientists who deviate from the GMO mantra that declares GMOs to be proven safe are considered heretical because their independent scientific explorations pose a threat to industry’s financial interests. Scientists who diverge from the “GMO are safe” slogan are attacked by a coalition of stealth industry front groups and a posse of industry-supported scientists. Scientists who step out of line on this issue are savaged in a manner that is out of all proportion. Legitimate science is relegated to the ranks “junk science.”

In 2009, the journal Nature acknowledged that attacks on biotech researchers are regularly orchestrated by a “… large block of scientists who denigrate research by other legitimate scientists in a knee-jerk, partisan, emotional way that is not helpful in advancing knowledge and is outside the ideals of scientific inquiry”.

1999: the first & most polarizing politically orchestrated GMO witch hunt against an internationally esteemed scientist

Dr. Arpad Pusztai was a defector from communist Hungary who became a world renowned professor of biochemistry at the Rowett Research Institute in Scotland for 36 years and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Dr. Pusztai’s area of expertise is lectins,  a protein found mostly in plants that can be toxic; initiating a cascade of immune and autoimmune events leading to cell death. (Krispin Sullivan, 2016) In 1996-97, he was awarded a £1.6 million government grant to conduct a GMO study that derailed his career.

“He had been an enthusiastic supporter of genetic engineering, working on cutting edge safety research with genetically modified (GM) foods. But to his surprise, his experiments showed that GM foods were inherently dangerous. When he relayed his concerns during a short television interview in the UK, things got ugly. With support from the highest levels of government, biotech defenders quickly mobilized a coordinated attack campaign trying to distort and cover up the evidence…” (Anniversary of a Whistleblowing Hero” by Jeffrey Smith, Huffington Post, 2010)

The study involved three groups of rats who were fed three different potato diets. One group was fed natural potatoes; another group was fed GE potatoes that had a lectin gene inserted; another group was fed non-GE potatoes injected with the same lectin. The result of the study showed that: “the young rats fed the genetically modified potatoes grew smaller livers, hearts, and brains than the rats fed regular potatoes or non-GM potatoes spiked with lectin.”

The results were first disclosed in a television interview approved by the head of the Rowett Institute, in which Dr. Pusztai stated that more research was needed about the health impacts of GMOs, and that he would be reluctant to eat GMO foods until more was known. This challenged the widely promoted mantra that the safety of GMOs have been proven by science — case closed. He then stated:

“If I had the choice I would certainly not eat it [GMO foods]. We are putting new things into food which have not been eaten before. The effects on the immune system are not easily predictable and I challenge anyone who will say that the effects are predictable…  I find it’s very unfair to use our fellow citizens as guinea pigs”.

For this “crime” of discussing the findings of his research publicly, Dr. Pusztai has been subjected to consequences far beyond scientific norms of discourse. His team was dismantled, his laboratory closed, his academic appointment rescinded, and he has been under a binding gag order.