John Innes Centre

=<div>lymas clain they are getting gates $ to dev crops for 3rd world</div><div></div><div><div class="GGD0W3FBKT" aria-hidden="false" style="font-weight: bold; float: left; top: 3px; left: 5px; margin-right: 110px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Chapela & Quist</div><div style="clear: both; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="GGD0W3FBKS" aria-hidden="false" style="float: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div style="clear: both; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="gwt-HTML" aria-hidden="false" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
 denied tenure, but then got it w/ help of ----?=grant from spanis h Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness MINECO.christou@pvcf.udl.cat Personal website: http://www.icrea.eshttp://www.agrotecnio.org/?page_id=534Bachelor of Science, Universitad London, Chelsea College, UK, 1977
PhD, University of London, University College, UK, 1980<h2 style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-stretch: normal;">Professional Experience</h2>2004-actualitad ICREA, University of Lleida
2001-2004, Professor, Fraunhofer Institute of Molecular Biotechnology and Applied Ecology, Schmallenberg, Aachen, Germany
1998 – 1994, Professor and Head of Biotechnology Unitad John Innes Centre, UK<h2 style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-stretch: normal;">Research</h2>Our programs focus on four major activities: Transgene structure and function in genetically engineered crops; metabolic engineering and production of pharmaceutical macromolecules in crop plants; engineering of multiple novel agronomic traits in crop plants and cereal functional genomics. We are also interested in training and technology transfer for developing country biotechnology, intellectual property issues and regulatory and biosafety issues of transgenic crops, focusing on developing countries as well as science policy issues and strategic planning covering the interphase between fundamental and applied research.
<div></div><div><h4 style="font-size: small; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.2em; clear: both; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background: rgb(248, 248, 248);">Editing the scientific record: The case of Paul Christou</h4>FCT is not the only academic journal that appears to have been captured by commercial interests. After the initial campaign failed to getFCT to retract the Séralini study, the journal Transgenic Research published a heavy-handed critique of the study and of the researchers themselves (<a href="http://www.ask-force.org/web/Seralini/Arjo-Plurality-Opinion-Scientific-Discourse-Seralini-2013.pdf" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(25, 39, 39); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Arjo et al</a>., 2013). The lead author of that critique was Paul Christou.Christou and co-authors castigated the editor of FCT for publishing the study, calling it “a clear and egregious breach of the standards of scientific publishing”. They insisted that the journal editor retract the study “based on its clearly flawed data, its breaches of ethical standards, and the strong evidence for scientific misconduct and abuse of the peer-review process”. “Even a full retraction of the Séralini article” wrote Christou, “will not cleanse the Internet of the inflammatory images of tumorous rats.”The same writers further implied that the Séralini study was “fraudulent”, that the researchers failed to analyse the data objectively, and that the treatment of the experimental animals was inhumane.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: small; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 18.2px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">This is not the first time Christou has attacked scientific findings that have raised doubts about GM crops. In 2001 Ignacio Chapela and David Quist of the University of California, Berkeley, reported in the journal <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Nature that indigenous Mexican maize varieties had become contaminated with GM genes (<a href="http://boards.cannabis.com/attachments/cannabis-com-lounge/113024d1168890567-global-warming-article-chapela-i.-transgenic-dna-native-mexican-corn.pdf" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(25, 39, 39); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Quist and Chapela</a>, 2001). This issue was, and remains, highly controversial since Mexico is the genetic centre of origin for maize. In an exact parallel with the Séralini study, an <a href="http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-test/10959" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(25, 39, 39); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">internet campaign</a> was waged against Chapela and Quist demanding that the journal retract the study. Then Christou, just as he was later to do with the Séralini study, attacked Chapela and Quist’s paper in an article in <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Transgenic Research. The title said it all: “No credible scientific evidence is presented to support claims that transgenic DNA was introgressed into traditional maize landraces in Oaxaca, Mexico” (<a href="https://research.cip.cgiar.org/confluence/download/attachments/3487/ak7.pdf" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(25, 39, 39); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Christou</a>, 2002).<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: small; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 18.2px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Responding to the campaign, <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Nature editor Philip Campbell asked Chapela and Quist for more data, which they provided, and arranged another round of peer review. Only one reviewer in the final group of three supported retraction, and no one had presented any data or analysis that contradicted Chapela and Quist’s main finding.Nevertheless, <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Nature <a href="http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/info10.htm" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(25, 39, 39); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">asserted</a>, “The evidence available is not sufficient to justify the publication of the original paper”. Some subsequent investigations, testing different samples, reported finding GM genes in native landraces of Mexican corn (<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3001031/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(25, 39, 39); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Pineyro-Nelson et al.</a> 2009), while others did not (<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1184035/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(25, 39, 39); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Ortiz-Garcia et al.</a> 2005).<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: small; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 18.2px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Paul Christou, in contrast, probably did not have much trouble getting either of his critiques published in <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Transgenic Research. He is the journal’s editor-in-chief. And, like Goodman, Christou is connected to Monsanto. Monsanto bought the GM seed company Agracetus (<a href="http://www.icrea.cat/web/ReportViewer.aspx?entidad=W0LloaT1B7Y%3d&id=KT0JBsyZN78%3d" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(25, 39, 39); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Christou’s former employer</a>) and Monsanto now holds <a href="http://www.ptodirect.com/Results/Patents?p=1&r=10&query=Christou-Paul.INNM." style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(25, 39, 39); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">patents</a> for the production of GM crops on which Christou is <a href="http://www.ptodirect.com/Results/Patents?query=PN/6288312" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(25, 39, 39); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">named</a> as the inventor.  It is normal practice to declare inventor status on patents as a competing interest in scientific articles, but Christou did not disclose either conflict of interest – his editorship of the journal or his patent inventor status – in his critique of the Séralini study.<h4 style="font-size: small; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.2em; clear: both; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">The Ermakova affair: Preemptive editing of the scientific record</h4></div></div></div><div></div><div><div id="mw-content-text" lang="en" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr" style="direction: ltr; line-height: 19.2px;">The John Innes Centre (JIC) has been 'a major player in the development of genetic manipulation technologies for the benefit of UK industry.' Its applied work has attracted great commercial interest and has been described as 'underpinning biotechnology worldwide'.It is located on a 50-acre site in the Norwich Research Park (UK). Also on the site is the <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/Sainsbury_Laboratory" title="Sainsbury Laboratory" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Sainsbury Laboratory</a>, funded primarily through Lord Sainsbury's <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/Gatsby_Charitable_Foundation" title="Gatsby Charitable Foundation" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Gatsby Charitable Foundation</a>. Together the JIC and Sainsbury Laboratory have over 850 staff and students.The JIC's former Director, <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/Chris_Lamb" title="Chris Lamb" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Chris Lamb</a>, until his death in August 2009, was responsible for the management and administration of the JIC's affairs in conjunction with the JIC's Governing Council. Amongst its members have been Prof <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/Anthony_Trewavas" title="Anthony Trewavas" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Anthony Trewavas</a>, Prof <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/Chris_Leaver" title="Chris Leaver" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Chris Leaver</a> and the former National Farmers' Union President, <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php?title=Ben_Gill&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Ben Gill (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(165, 88, 88); background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Ben Gill</a> (nicknamed 'Biotech Ben' by the satirical magazine Private Eye because of his enthusiasm for GM crops).JIC scientists have been highly influential in UK government advisory circles, serving on key regulatory committees, such as ACNFP and ACRE. JIC scientists have also been notable contributors to reports on GM that are known to have been highly influential with Ministers, e.g. those of the <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/Nuffield_Council_on_Bioethics" title="Nuffield Council on Bioethics" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Nuffield Council on Bioethics</a>, the House of Lords Select Committee, the <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/Royal_Society" title="Royal Society" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Royal Society</a>, and the <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php?title=Science_Review_Panel&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Science Review Panel (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(165, 88, 88); background: none;">Science Review Panel</a>.The late Prof <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/Mike_Gale" title="Mike Gale" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Mike Gale</a>, for instance, was one of four JIC scientists who were members of the working group that produced the Royal Society's 1998 report on GM. He was part of the 4 man Royal Society team who contributed to the report on GM in 2000 of seven national or international academies of science. He also gave evidence to the working group who produced the Royal Society's 2002 report on GM. He served on the Government's Advisory Committee on Genetic Modification and was a member of the Government's <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php?title=Science_Review_Panel&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Science Review Panel (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(165, 88, 88); background: none;">Science Review Panel</a>. He was also a member of the <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/Nuffield_Council_on_Bioethics" title="Nuffield Council on Bioethics" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Nuffield Council on Bioethics</a>.In the JIC's own estimation, the exposure it achieves in the media is 'excellent' and helps enhance its external profile. As welll as media work, the JIC's <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.gmwatch.org/p2temp2.asp?aid=12&page=1&op=1" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA/nAKks+JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC) 100% 50% no-repeat;">science communication activities</a> encompass advice to politicians, policy makers, and other opinion formers, public meetings, exhibitions, conferences, a special <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.gmissues.org/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA/nAKks+JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC) 100% 50% no-repeat;">GM website</a>, a <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.jic.bbsrc.ac.uk/exhibitions/bio-future/index.htm" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA/nAKks+JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC) 100% 50% no-repeat;">web-based schools' project</a> (funded by Lord Sainsbury's Gatsby Foundation), as well as the commissioning of plays on GM foods to tour UK secondary schools. The JIC also hosts a Teacher-Scientist Network which links nearly 100 teachers in local schools with the JIC and the Norwich Research Park.These activities have proven <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.gmwatch.org/p2temp2.asp?aid=12&page=1&op=1" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA/nAKks+JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC) 100% 50% no-repeat;">controversial</a> and several of the JIC's Senior Scientists past and present, including Prof <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/Phil_Dale" title="Phil Dale" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Phil Dale</a>, have attracted criticism in this regard.JIC and Sainsbury Laboratory 'technology transfer' is largely managed through the for-profit company <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php?title=Plant_Bioscience_Limited&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Plant Bioscience Limited (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(165, 88, 88); background: none;">Plant Bioscience Limited</a> (PBL), chaired by <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php?title=Ed_Dart&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Ed Dart (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(165, 88, 88); background: none;">Ed Dart</a> (formerly with Zeneca) and jointly owned by the JIC and Lord Sainsbury's <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/Gatsby_Charitable_Foundation" title="Gatsby Charitable Foundation" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Gatsby Charitable Foundation</a>. In 2000/01 PBL had a GBP1M turnover and a portfolio of over 60 patented technologies.The JIC is grant-aided by the public funding body, the <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/Biotechnology_and_Biological_Sciences_Research_Council" title="Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council</a> (BBSRC). Other funding sources include the EU and Lord Sainsbury's Gatsby Foundation, though an email from Catherine Reynolds, Head of Communications at Norwich BioScience Institutes, in October 2009 states, "The JIC has NOT received major donations from The Gatsby Foundation".<a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/John_Innes_Centre#cite_note-0" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[1]</a>The JIC has also received funding from all the major biotech companies, including multi-million pound investments. In 1998 the JIC announced GBP10M of investment by Dupont and GBP50M by <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/Syngenta" title="Syngenta" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Syngenta</a> (the original commitment in '98 was made by Zeneca).Syngenta's investment led to the construction of a Syngenta laboratory to aid the close cooperation of JIC scientists with up to 40 Syngenta colleagues. According to JIC director Chris Lamb:<dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">Collaborations with companies, such as Syngenta, is one way to ensure science is converted into products that benefit end-users.<a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/John_Innes_Centre#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[2]</a></dd></dl>Syngenta later withdrew from its deal with the JIC.Encouraging 'multinationals to build a physical presence on the NRP [Norwich Research Park] in order to work with us more closely' is listed as one of the JIC's objectives in its <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.jic.bbsrc.ac.uk/corporate/Publications/corpplan%2701.pdf" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAQAAAAnOwc2AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAE5JREFUeF5lykEKgDAMBdF/+17Es/QkiosiCBURXIzJooZohmweX6gwmkCeI+Oqc2C1FnvnF2ejlQYU0tLK2NjY6f/l8V12Ti7uhFFgDj19b58EwXuqkAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg) 100% 50% no-repeat;">corporate strategy</a>.JIC scientists claim to be independent of industry because 75% of the JIC's income comes from UK Government sources, predominantly via the BBSRC. Commercial sponsorship is said to represent only about 10% of the JIC's overall annual funding. In reality, however, corporate influence extends well beyond the issue of direct funding and affects the whole culture within which the JIC operates.The JIC, as well as being guided by the needs of its sponsors, is guided by the UK Technology Foresight priorities, which emphasise the need for research that encourages wealth creation. The JIC's main public funding body, the <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/BBSRC" title="BBSRC" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">BBSRC</a> is guided by the same priorities. It commits those it sponsors to integrating scientific opportunity with the needs of industry. Known as 'market pull', this means that the research direction of the biosciences has been made increasingly dependent on both corporate investment and commercial relevance.It is perhaps not surprising, then, that Prof <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/Mike_Gale" title="Mike Gale" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Mike Gale</a>, the former Acting Director of the JIC, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://members.tripod.com/_{ngin/biospin.htm}" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA/nAKks+JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC) 100% 50% no-repeat;">stated</a> that any major slow down or halt in the development of GM crops 'would be very, very serious for us.'In September 2002 it was announced] that the <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/Syngenta" title="Syngenta" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Syngenta</a> deal, originally agreed in 1999, had been terminated by the company.<a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/John_Innes_Centre#cite_note-2" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[3]</a> Although a substantial part of the investment had already occurred, it is thought that the JIC may have lost as much as £10M as a result of the collapse of the deal. The Syngenta pull-out is symptomatic of a wider contraction within the agbiotech industry which faces major uncertainties over consumer-acceptance of its products.All of which throws into doubt the JIC's planned development of its sponsorship-relationships with major multinationals. This has made it necessary to seek out other means of increasing income and investment.In May 2003 a project was launched entitled <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.jic.bbsrc.ac.uk/senseaboutscience/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA/nAKks+JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Public-Good Plant Breeding</a>. The project involved a collaboration between the John Innes Centre and the controversial lobby group <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/Sense_About_Science" title="Sense About Science" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Sense About Science</a>. The project, launched with an event at the Natural History Museum sponsored by <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/Sense_About_Science" title="Sense About Science" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Sense About Science</a>, also had the support of the <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/BBSRC" title="BBSRC" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">BBSRC</a>.According to the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.jic.bbsrc.ac.uk/senseaboutscience/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA/nAKks+JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC) 100% 50% no-repeat;">JIC website</a>, 'The meeting on 22nd May was just the start. It established that it is time to review plant breeding internationally; to think beyond the confines of narrow arguments about some techniques and beyond what appears currently possible to fund or commercialise.'In other words, the project seeks to promote the view that modern plant breeding of the sort undertaken at the JIC must be freed from the short-term constraints that can come with commercial investment. This is intended to encourage policy makers (e.g. British Government, <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/BBSRC" title="BBSRC" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">BBSRC</a>, Department for International Development) and donor organisations (e.g. Gatsby Charitable Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation) to increase their level of investment in order to support GM crop development for innovating plant varieties . The JIC has already benefited in the past from significant investment of this sort through, for example, the Department for International Development and the Gatsby Charitable Foundation.An additional benefit from the project for the JIC is that promoting 'Public Good Plant Breeding' helps it to counter the view that its research reflects the interests of commercial funders rather than the public good. However, the continuing lack of public support and consumer interest in GM crops, both in the UK and worldwide, means the JIC still lacks a public mandate for its emphasis on GM crop development.<h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); width: auto; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">People</h2><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: square; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANCAMAAABW4lS6AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAAZQTFRFAFKM////QIUK9QAAAAJ0Uk5T/wDltzBKAAAAGklEQVR42mJgBAEGokgGBjBGBxBxsBqAAAMACHwALd5r8ygAAAAASUVORK5CYII=); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/Dale_Sanders" title="Dale Sanders" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Dale Sanders</a> - director and CEO, appointed March 2010<a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/John_Innes_Centre#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[4]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/Chris_Lamb" title="Chris Lamb" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Chris Lamb</a> - former director, until his death in August 2009<a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/John_Innes_Centre#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[5]</a></li></ul><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); width: auto; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Website</h2>Website: <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.jic.ac.uk/corporate/index.htm" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA/nAKks+JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC) 100% 50% no-repeat;">http://www.jic.ac.uk/corporate/index.htm</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); width: auto; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Notes</h2><ol class="references" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 3.2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li id="cite_note-0" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/John_Innes_Centre#cite_ref-0" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">↑</a> Email from Catherine Reynolds, Head of Communications, Norwich BioScience Institutes, to Claire Robinson, received 22 Oct 2009</li><li id="cite_note-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/John_Innes_Centre#cite_ref-1" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">↑</a> "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20011214025208/http://www.jic.bbsrc.ac.uk/corporate/Media_and_Public/Releases/010716.htm" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA/nAKks+JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC) 100% 50% no-repeat;">Laying the foundation for more science at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK</a>", press release, John Innes Centre, 16 July 2001, version placed in web archive 14 Dec 2001, accessed in web archive April 6 2009</li><li id="cite_note-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/John_Innes_Centre#cite_ref-2" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021027154303/www.jic.bbsrc.ac.uk/corporate/Media_and_Public/Releases/020918.htm" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA/nAKks+JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC) 100% 50% no-repeat;">John Innes Centre loses research partner as company re-structures</a>, press release, JIC, 18 Sept 2002, JIC website, version placed in web archive 29 Sept 2002, accessed in web archive 17 Dec 2009</li><li id="cite_note-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/John_Innes_Centre#cite_ref-3" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">↑</a> William Surman, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.farmersguardian.com/news/new-head-for-john-innes-centre/30656.article" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA/nAKks+JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC) 100% 50% no-repeat;">New head for John Innes Centre</a>, Farmers Guardian, 2 Mar 2010, accessed 2 Mar 2010</li><li id="cite_note-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/John_Innes_Centre#cite_ref-4" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">↑</a> William Surman, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.farmersguardian.com/news/new-head-for-john-innes-centre/30656.article" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA/nAKks+JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC) 100% 50% no-repeat;">New head for John Innes Centre</a>, Farmers Guardian, 2 Mar 2010, accessed 2 Mar 2010</li></ol></div><div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 5px; margin-top: 1em; clear: both; line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Categories</a>: <ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style: none none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><li style="margin: 0.125em 0px; display: inline-block; 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<div>... SMC...</div><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; line-height: 22.1px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><strong style="color: rgb(50, 50, 50); margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Cancer-prone rat

Another signatory of this joint letter to Food and Chemical Toxicology is Prof. Anthony Trewavas. Trewavas was also one of the experts quoted by the SMC<a href="http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-gm-maize-causing-tumours-in-rats/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"> in their media release</a> that had such an impact on the reporting of the Seralini study. 

In his SMC comments, which ended up being <a href="http://www.research.ed.ac.uk/portal/en/clippings/professor-anthony-trewavas-comments-on-controversial-scientific-paper-on-gm-corn%285703ab8a-99b1-4eef-8f2a-e6da273c7fa4%29.html" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">quoted in well over 20 different publications</a>worldwide, Trewavas accuses the researchers of using a cancer-prone rat and claims: "[A] line [of rats] which is very susceptible to tumours can easily bias any result." This line of argument was also developed for the SMC by another expert, Maurice Moloney who says Sprague-Dawley rats frequently develop mammary tumours 

It is this cancer-prone rat claim, which Trewavas and Moloney first set running, that more than any other underpins the Chassy-Miller allegation of fraud. The suggestion is that the study was deliberately designed to generate tumours, i.e. that Seralini and his team intentionally chose the Sprague-Dawley rat for their research in order to produce exactly the result they wanted - cancer!

But although variants on this claim have been widely reported, there are a number of problems with it. Not only is this line of rats the same one that <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278691504000547" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Monsanto used for the study</a> that underlies the regulatory approval of this GM maize (NK603), but Sprague-Dawley rats have also been used repeatedly in toxicology and carcinogenesis trials, <a href="http://www.ensser.org/democratising-science-decision-making/ensser-comments-on-seralini-study/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">including long-term ones</a>. They were even <a href="http://earthopensource.org/files/pdfs/Roundup-and-birth-defects/VOLUME3-1_GLYPHOSAT_04.PDF" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">used in industry’s own two-year research studies</a> submitted to regulators to support the regulatory approval of glyphosate – the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup, one of the two substances that Seralini's team were researching. 

And the fact that this strain of rat has <a href="http://www.ramazzini.it/ricerca/pdfUpload/Cancer%20Medicine%2049-64_2006.pdf" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">a 30%-plus tendency to “spontaneous” cancers across its lifetime actually means it a good model for humans</a>, who have a similar susceptibility to the disease. What's more, even allowing for the Sprague-Dawley rats having a tendency to spontaneous tumours, Seralini's team found the rats fed on either the GM maize or the herbicide suffered an increase in the number of tumours and they had an earlier onset when compared to those in the control group. The researchers also took account of the spontaneous tumour issue by comparing their results to the rates of similar types of tumour in other published studies using the same strain of rat.

This is not say that the Seralini study does not have its shortcomings. It's true that the study had fewer rats than are recommended for cancer studies, but Seralini did not set out to look for tumours. His study was a chronic toxicity one that unexpectedly found striking evidence of increased tumours in the treated rats. Given this finding, the onus should now be on Monsanto to fund a full-scale carcinogenicity study using larger groups of rats to prove that its products are safe – something it has so far failed to do.

Angelika Hilbeck of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) describes the "wrong rat" argument first put forward by Trewavas and Moloney as "absurd". <a href="http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/51-2012/14451" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Hilbeck says</a>, "Seralini chose the same strain of rat as Monsanto. Do we really think that a substance should be tested on an animal that is not sensitive to it? With these defamations they wanted to distract us from the fact that Seralini used the same methodology as Monsanto. Because if you take Seralini seriously as a researcher, you have to take seriously his study and the comparison with Monsanto's study. That would put into question Monsanto's study and hence the approval of GM maize." 

<strong style="color: rgb(50, 50, 50); margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Double standards used to condemn studies showing risk

In fact, many of the charges that have been made against the Seralini study could be levelled against the studies that have been used to approve GM crops, which are less detailed than Seralini's and typically shorter-term. This is why <a href="http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/51-2012/14288" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">a report by the European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility (ENSSER)</a> concluded that a careful comparison of the Seralini rat feeding trial with Monsanto trials shows that if the Seralini experiments are considered insufficient to demonstrate harm, then those carried out by Monsanto cannot prove safety. This is because, whatever its limitations, Seralini's study was conducted to generally higher scientific standards than the studies underlying GM food approvals. 

ENSSER highlights the double standards whereby studies on GM crops like Seralini's that show adverse effects are subjected to obsessive yet often poorly justified criticism of their experimental and statistical methods, while those like Monsanto's that claim safety are taken at face value. In this way risk is assessed in an asymmetrical fashion so that the burden of proof is not on the biotech industry to provide adequate evidence of the safety of its products, but is on public researchers like Seralini to prove harm beyond any doubt. <a href="http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/51-2012/14372" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Other experts</a> have echoed the charge of double standards, including around 140 French scientists who, <a href="http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14434" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">in a public statement published in Le Monde</a>, declared that it was contrary to scientific ethics to damn an experimental protocol when it gave results that were not wanted, while accepting it when it gave results that were.    

These double standards can also be seen in the ipetition demanding that Seralini hand over all of his raw data to his critics. Those championing the petition have no history of demanding from Monsanto full public disclosure of all the raw data underlying its studies supporting safety (the industry studies on glyphosate, for example, are <a href="http://www.omicsonline.org/2161-0525/2161-0525-S4-006.php?aid=7453" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">kept secret under 'commercial confidentiality' agreements between industry and regulators</a>). This is why Seralini has said he will undertake full disclosure when the same level of disclosure takes place for all the studies underlying GM food approvals, so that like can be compared with like. [?]

<strong style="color: rgb(50, 50, 50); margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Public science and private interests

One of the early UK signatories of the ipetition, as well as a co-signatory, like Prof. Trewavas, of the letter to Food and Chemical Toxicology from Prakash, Chassy and Miller, is <a href="http://powerbase.info/index.php/Chris_Leaver" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Prof. Chris Leaver</a>. Leaver, like Trewavas,  is a GM scientist. He is also a former advisor to the Science Media Centre and a former consultant to the GM/agrochemical giant Syngenta. Since 1984 Prof. Leaver has also been<a href="http://www.jic.ac.uk/corporate/about/organisation/gov-council.htm" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"> on the Governing Council </a>of the UK's leading public plant biotechinstitute, <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/John_Innes_Centre" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">the John Innes Centre</a> – something else he has in common with Prof. Trewavas, who was also for several years on the JIC's Governing Council. 

The JIC has been a key player in the criticism of Seralini. This is apparent as soon as you look at the SMC's three media releases on the study. <a href="http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-gm-maize-causing-tumours-in-rats/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">The first</a> quoted eight experts including a senior scientist at the JIC and a former member of its Governing Council (Trewavas). <a href="http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-efsa-initial-review-of-gm-maize/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">The second </a>quoted just one expert, Cathie Martin of the JIC. <a href="http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-efsa-report-conclusion-that-seralini-study-conclusions-were-not-supported-by-data/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">The third </a>quoted five experts, of which three, including Cathie Martin, were from the JIC.

What makes this predominance particularly revealing is that the scientists in question are not experts on toxicology or animal studies. Their expertise is in plant genetics and GM. What's more, the JIC and its Sainsbury Laboratory have had tens of millions of pounds in investment from GM giants like Syngenta. In fact, they are so dependent on the public acceptance of GM that a previous acting director of the JIC<a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/John_Innes_Centre" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"> confided to his local paper </a>that any major slowdown or halt in the development of GM crops "would be very, very serious for us". 

These vested interests are personal as well as institutional. Cathie Martin, for instance, says in <a href="http://www.jic.ac.uk/profile/cathie-martin.asp" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">her JIC profile</a>, "I am inventor on seven patents and I recently co-founded a spin-out company (Norfolk Plant Sciences) with Professor Jonathan Jones FRS, to bring the benefits of plant biotechnology to Europe and the US." <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Jonathan_Jones" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Jones</a>, who is quoted along with Martin in one of the SMC releases, co-founded another biotech firm, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Mendel_Biotechnology" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Mendel Biotechnology</a>, which has Monsanto as its "most important customer and collaborator". 

The failure of Jones, who is also an advisor to Mendel Biotechnology, to be more explicit about his industry links, has <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/18/gm-scientist-defends-monsanto-links" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">generated controversy</a>.  Yet journalists are given no indication of these kind of conflicts of interest by the SMC's releases, as <a href="http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/51-2012/14267" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">the journalist Joanna Blythman has noted</a>: "The SMC introduced these experts to the media solely by listing the universities and public institutions that employ them, failing to give the full flavour of their interests." And the problem goes much wider than the JIC, as <a href="http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/51-2012/14267" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Blythman notes with regard to the experts quoted in the SMC's first media release</a>: "seven out of eight are either evangelical advocates of GM food, or have received funding from, or worked with, prominent biotech corporations."

Take, for instance, the very first expert quoted by the SMC, Prof. Maurice Moloney. This year, the SMC has featured Moloney <a href="http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/?s=moloney&cat=" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">in no fewer than four different media releases on GM</a>. They typically identify him only as "Institute Director and Chief Executive, Rothamsted Research", which is an independent charitable agricultural research centre. What journalists aren't told is that Moloney is so enamoured of GM that <a href="http://www.spinwatch.org.uk/-articles-by-category-mainmenu-8/46-gm-industry/5505-science-one-whining-greenies-nil" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">he drives around in a Porsche with a GMO number plate</a>, and has a CV to match. He is the inventor on more than 300 patents and his GM research underpins one of Monsanto's main GM crops. He has also founded his own GM company in which the GM giant Dow AgroScience was an investor. The fact that Prof. Moloney's career and business interests have long been centered around GM is not something the SMC seems to think journalists need to know. 

<strong style="color: rgb(50, 50, 50); margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Letters to journal fail to disclose conflicts of interest

This pattern of significant but undisclosed conflicts of interest is relevant to not only the majority of the SMC's experts but also to many of Seralini's other critics, including those responsible for the twenty or so letters published by Food and Chemical Toxicology in response to Seralini's paper. Some of the letter writers are, in fact, exactly the same people that the SMC quotes. They are also often to be found amongst<a href="http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/dr-seralini-please-release-data/signatures" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"> the earliest signatories of the </a><a href="http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/dr-seralini-please-release-data/signatures" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">AgBioWorld ipetition</a>. Maurice Moloney, for example, not only turns up twice in the SMC's media rebuttals of Seralini, but comes in at no. 11 on the list of ipetition signatories, and <a href="http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/features/online/6048/gm-corn-and-cancer-s%C3%A9ralini-affair?page=0%2C2" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">he wrote a letter to the journal</a>. 

Another <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278691512007910" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">letter writer demanding retraction is Prof. Mark Tester</a>. Like Moloney and the JIC, Tester is a firm favourite with the SMC, <a href="http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/?s=mark%20tester&cat=" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">featuring in three of this year's SMC's media releases </a>and in many more over the years. He was already a favoured expert a decade ago when the SMC was<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2002/jun/07/bbc.medicalscience" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"> accused of orchestrating a spin campaign</a> to discredit a BBC drama on GM crops. <a href="http://www.adelaide.edu.au/directory/mark.tester" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">The University of Adelaide staff directory</a> broadens out Prof. Tester's academic profile in a way the SMC never has: "His commercial acumen is clear from his establishment of private companies and successful interactions with multinational companies such as Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer and Pioneer-DuPont." 

Many other letter writers also have undisclosed industry links. Take, for instance, Martina Newell-McGloughlin. <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278691512007922" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">She identifies herself </a>as the director of the International Biotechnology Program at the University of California/Davis, but fails to mention that <a href="http://www.citywatchla.com/4box-left/3879-damning-report-questions-monsanto-genetically-modified-corn-study" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">the Program is funded by the likes of Monsanto, Syngenta, DuPont and Bayer</a>. Another letter writer and a colleague at UC Davis, Kent Bradford, <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/static/live/news/projects/biotech/c3_3.html" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">has consulted for Monsanto</a>. Lucia de Souza<a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278691512008022" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"> wrote to the journal </a>with Leila Macedo Oda on behalf of <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/ANBio" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">ANBio – the Brazilian Biosafety Association</a>, without mentioning that ANBio's funders include Monsanto, Bayer, and DuPont. 

Then there are the letter writers who fail to mention their previous employers, <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Sense_about_Science#Monsanto_scientist_named_on_early_draft_of_SAS_guide_to_GM" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">like Andrew Cockburn</a>, Monsanto's former director of scientific affairs (Europe and Africa); <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/L.Val_Giddings" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">L. Val Giddings</a>, former Vice President of the <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/BIO" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Biotechnology Industry Organisation</a>; and <a href="http://www.zoominfo.com/#!search/profile/person?personId=90497954&targetid=profile" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Sivramiah (Shanthu) Shantharam</a>, former Syngenta man and until recently head of the biotech industry's main lobby group in India.  

Even letter writers who at first glance seem like they must be entirely independent of the biotech industry can turn out to have links. Take, for instance, <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Erio_Barale-Thomas" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Erio Barale-Thomas</a>, one of the few toxicologists <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278691512007867" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">to criticize the Seralini paper in the journal</a>. Barale-Thomas, who says he writes on behalf of the Administrative Council of the French Society of Toxicological Pathology, takes Seralini to task for his failure to declare a conflict of interest in his paper, namely that Seralini is president of CRIIGEN, an independent research group with concerns about GM, which contributed funding to the research. Yet CRIIGEN's contribution to funding the study was declared in the paper, while Barale-Thomas does not disclose in his letter <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Erio_Barale-Thomas" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">his own biotech interests</a>. He is not only principal scientist at Janssen Biotech, but immediately prior to that he worked for the GM crop and agrochemical giant Bayer CropScience (1998-2003). 

Another French scientist among the letter writers is Prof. Marc Fellous, whose declared connections are academic posts in the sphere of human genetics. What he doesn't mention is that he heads up the <a href="http://gmwatch.org/latest-listing/51-2012/14362" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">French Association of Plant Biotechnology</a>, which lobbies for GM crops and has been so aggressive in its attacks on Seralini that last year he successfully sued Fellous for defamation. 

<strong style="color: rgb(50, 50, 50); margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Science or ideology?

Another letter writer <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278691512007983" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">is the pathologist Sir Colin Berry</a>. Like Trewavas, <a href="http://www.scientific-alliance.org/scientific-advisory-forum" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Berry is an advisor to the Scientific Alliance</a>, an organization which campaigns on environmental issues, particularly climate change, energy policy and agriculture. It is pro-GM, pro-nuclear and sceptical about climate change. Its director, <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Martin_Livermore" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Martin Livermore</a>, runs an agri-food PR consultancy, prior to which he did PR for the GM giant DuPont. <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Scientific_Alliance" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">The Alliance</a> was established by the lobby firm Foresight Communication with money from right-wing business interests. 

Trewavas is one of only a couple of scientists who not only signed onto the Prakash, Chassy, Miller letter but also sent <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278691512007958" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">their own letter of complaint to the journal</a>. Trewavas concludes it like this: "this paper and this journal have dealt the value of evidence-based knowledge a serious blow and it can only be rectified if the paper is withdrawn by the authors with an apology for misleading the public and the scientific community alike… Ideology and politics must be kept out of scientific study or we all suffer."

It is revealing that critics like Berry and Trewavas claim to champion an evidence-based approach while operating out of lobby groups that attack the scientific consensus on issues like climate change. <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Colin_Berry" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Berry</a>, incidentally, is also a shareholder in the company that owns the aggressively libertarian online magazine <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Spiked" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Spiked</a>, which also promotes climate scepticism.<a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Fiona_Fox" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Fiona Fox</a>, the director of the <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Science_Media_Centre" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Science Media Centre</a>, was a long-time affiliate of <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/LM_network" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">the anti-environmental LM network</a> that are behind Spiked. 

The network around AgBioWorld also contains people with similar attitudes on environmental issues. These include <a href="http://gmwatch.org/latest-listing/51-2012/14330" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Henry Miller</a>, who co-wrote the article accusing Seralini of fraud, and AgBioWorld's co-founder <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Gregory_Conko" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Greg Conko</a> of the Exxon-funded<a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Competitive_Enterprise_Institute" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Competitive Enterprise Institute</a>, which <a href="http://gmwatch.org/latest-listing/51-2012/14330" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">specializes in</a> denialist "straight talk on global warming." 

Given this, it is ironic that AgBioWorld's Seralini petition was set up in the name of "the scientific community." Similarly, <a href="http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/features/online/6048/gm-corn-and-cancer-s%C3%A9ralini-affair?page=0%2C2" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Maurice Moloney says in his letter </a>to Food and Chemical Toxicology that he thinks he can speak "for the vast majority of the biological sciences community." But as we have seen, Moloney and many of the other letter writers link to a narrow and heavily commercialised sector of the biological sciences, albeit one with powerful backers. And some in this community have links to extremist lobby groups more concerned with ideology than evidence. 

<strong style="color: rgb(50, 50, 50); margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Peeling the GM onion

Identifying the real forces behind the front-men and carefully selected experts of "the scientific community" can be like peeling back the layers of an onion. Take Anthony Trewavas, the scientist who first helped get the cancer-prone rat claim into circulation. In 2001 Prof. Trewavas was named in the High Court in London as the source of a letter published in a Scottish newspaper that made libelous claims against GM critics (<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2001/oct/08/research.highereducation" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Greenpeace wins damages over professor's "unfounded" allegations</a>). Trewavas subsequently denied being the author of the libel letter published under his name, though he did admit circulating the material, which he said he had got from AgBioWorld. He said it had been written by a "lady in London" but "she" later turned out to be<a href="http://artsci.wustl.edu/_{anthro/bnc/readings/Monbiot%20The%20fake%20persuaders.htm}" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"> a front for the same Monsanto PR people</a> who <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Immoral_Maize:Extract_from_Don't_Worry,It's_Safe_to_Eat_by_Andrew_Rowell" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">covertly directed the campaign</a> that resulted in Nature's apparent retraction of Chapela's GM maize paper. 

Trewavas, a long-time associate of Prakash and AgBioWorld, also <a href="http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/51-2012/14211" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">played a notable role</a> in that campaign. In that case, Trewavas <a href="http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/51-2012/14211" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">encouraged people to demand</a> Chapela be fired by the University of California, Berkeley, unless he handed over his maize samples for checking: "We should be asking Berkeley to request Chapela to release his samples so that they at least can be checked... Refusal to do so should then be used to request Berkeley to relinquish Chapella's [sic] position." Such calls to arms against Chapela were mostly posted on the AgBioWorld listserv. This use of the listserv eventually enabled Monsanto's <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Immoral_Maize:Extract_from_Don't_Worry,It's_Safe_to_Eat_by_Andrew_Rowell" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">covert orchestration</a> of the campaign to be exposed. 

<strong style="color: rgb(50, 50, 50); margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">The attack dog in the night-time

Interestingly, as the attacks on Prof. Seralini and his paper spread across both mainstream and social media, AgBioWorld's listserv went missing. In the two months following the publication of Seralini's paper, <a href="http://www.agbioworld.org/newsletter_wm/index.php?caseid=archive" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">not a single bulletin went out on the listserv</a> that <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Immoral_Maize:Extract_from_Don't_Worry,It's_Safe_to_Eat_by_Andrew_Rowell" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">played such a pivotal role</a> in achieving retraction of the Mexican maize paper. 

AgBioWorld's sudden silence calls to mind a famous exchange in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes:

Detective: "Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"

Holmes: "To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time."

Detective: "The dog did nothing in the night-time."

Holmes: "That was the curious incident." 

With Seralini, it's the curious silence of Monsanto's attack dog that suggests that this time the covert PR war is being conducted by other means.

If the silence of AgBioWorld's listserv is suggestive, so too is the attempt to silence<a href="http://www.gmwatch.org/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">GMWatch</a>. Within days of the publication of the Seralini paper, our website came under major DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks. The contours of the attacks followed the peaks of the controversy, with the two biggest and most debilitating attacks coinciding with days on which the major rebuttals of Seralini's paper were published. <a href="http://www.gmwatch.org/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">The GMWatch website</a> had by then become a clearing house for rapid responses in English to the attacks on Seralini. We have no proof as to who was behind the attacks – that's hard to establish with DDOS. But oddly enough, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2002/may/29/research.highereducation" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">an article in the Guardian</a> about the retraction campaign against Quist and Chapela noted, "Just before the [Mexican maize] paper in Nature was publicly challenged, the server hosting the accounts used by its authors was disabled by a particularly effective attack which crippled their capacity to fight back." 

More than a decade later history seems to be repeating itself in the covert war over GM crops.

<em style="color: rgb(50, 50, 50); margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Jonathan Matthews is the founder and director of <a href="http://www.gmwatch.org/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">GMWatch</a> and has written numerous articles on <a href="http://www.spinwatch.org/-articles-by-category-mainmenu-8/46-gm-industry/157-genetically-modified-language-professor-bullsht-unspun" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">the politics and spin</a> around GM crops. He's a contributing author to <a href="http://www.spinwatch.org/test/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5161:thinker-faker-spinner-spy&catid=314:books&Itemid=120" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(39, 89, 148); outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Thinker, Faker, Spinner, Spy: Corporate PR and the Assault on Democracy</a><em style="color: rgb(50, 50, 50); margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">,<em style="color: rgb(50, 50, 50); margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"> eds Dinan and Miller (Pluto Press). Additional research: Claire Robinson, co-editor, GMWatch.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; line-height: 22.1px; color: rgb(50, 50, 50); padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">
*<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Spinwatch plans to publish a separate piece looking at some of the study's European critics, including science academies and the European Food Safety Authority.</div><div>
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