Since the experiments carried out by Dr A. Pusztai on the adverse effects of feeding GM potatoes to rats are still being quoted, it is appropriate to report that subsequent work has failed to substantiate the claims he made. I quote from a Review which I wrote two years ago, published in a peer reviewed journal, and still an accurate description of the situation. Indeed the passage of time makes it less and less likely that adverse effects will be seen.

“Concerns about possible risks to health caused by GM food – fuelled by the Pusztai report that feeding GM potatoes to rats had a deleterious effect on their growth rate and immune function (Ewan, S.W.B. & Pusztai, Lancet, 354, 1353-1354 (1999)) – are being increasingly brought into question by the strong scientific rejection of the validity of the report (The Royal Society, www.royalsoc.ac.uk/policy/index.html (search ‘pusztai’) (1999)), together with the fact more and more US citizens eat GM soya without any detectable effect on their health. As the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Edinburgh Conference on ‘GM Food Safety: Facts, Uncertainties, and Assessment’ stated in February: “Many consumers eat GM foods. No significant adverse effects have yet been detected on human health” (www.oecd.org/subject/biotech/edinburgh.html ) Indeed, two other groups have tested the original claim by feeding transgenic sweet peppers and tomatoes to rats (Chen, Z. et al, submitted for publication), and by feeding GM soya to mice and rats (Teshima, R. et al, J. Food Hyg. Soc. Japan, 41,188-193 (2000)), with no adverse effect.”

Quoted from Michael Gasson and Derek Burke, ‘Scientific perspectives on regulating the safety of genetically modified foods’. Nature Reviews Genetics, Volume 2, March 2001, pp217-222.

Name and address: Professor Derek Burke. I was chairman of the ACNFP from 1987 to 1997.