London (16 January, 2006) – Nearly three months ago, a report from Russia claimed that people eating GM food would die early; CropGen commented at the time.

Based on this work, some UK newspapers have recently suggested that if mothers were to eat GM foods they might “risk endangering their unborn babies”. No story would be more likely to worry prospective parents, often in no position themselves to judge the accuracy and reliability of scares. They will tend, not surprisingly, to play it safe.

The Russian experiments had already been rebutted by a well-known Australian scientist, as Cropgen reported. Now the UK’s Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes, an official body working in the public interest to review and regulate GM and other novel foods, has published its own highly critical report.

It is worth quoting their closing remarks in full:

“In conclusion, there are a number of possible explanations for the results obtained in this preliminary study, apart from the GM and non-GM origin of the test materials. Without information on a range of important factors conclusions cannot be drawn from this work. The Committee Secretariat is contacting Dr Ermakova to obtain further information on this study and the Committee will consider any further information that can be obtained and review the position if a full report of the study is published in the peer-reviewed literature.

The Committee also notes that Dr Ermakova’s findings are not consistent with those described in a peer-reviewed paper published in 2004.1 In a well controlled study no adverse effects were found in mice fed on diets containing 21% GM herbicide-resistant soya beans and followed through up to 4 generations.”

Sources:

1. Yet another scare story rears its head. CropGen website (http://www.cropgen.org/article_45.html)

2. Geoffrey Lean. GM: New study shows unborn babies could be harmed. The Independent on Sunday (8.1.06) (http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article337253.ece)

3. GM 'could harm your unborn baby'. Daily Mail (9.1.06). [The same newspaper used a similar headline – Can Frankenstein foods harm your unborn baby? – on 30.1.99 for a story suggested exploring possible “statistical links” with Down’s Syndrome.]

4. Statement on the effect of GM soya on newborn rats. Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (5.12.05). (http://food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/acnfpgmsoya.pdf)

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