GM Watch
  • Main Menu
    • Home
    • News
      • Newsletter subscription
      • Daily Digest
      • News Reviews
      • News Languages
    • Articles
      • GM Myth Makers
      • GM Reports
      • GM Quotes
      • GM Myths
      • Non-GM successes
      • GM Firms
        • Monsanto: a history
        • Monsanto: resources
        • Bayer: a history
        • Bayer: resources
    • Videos
      • Latest Videos
      • Must see videos
      • Cornell videos
      • Agriculture videos
      • Labeling videos
      • Animals videos
      • Corporations videos
      • Corporate takeover videos
      • Contamination videos
      • Latin America videos
      • India videos
      • Asia videos
      • Food safety videos
      • Songs videos
      • Protests videos
      • Biofuel myths videos
      • Index of GM crops and foods
      • Index of speakers
      • Health Effects
    • Contact
    • About
    • Donations
    • How donations will help us
News and comment on genetically modified foods and their associated pesticides    
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Newsletter subscription
    • News Reviews
    • News Languages
      • Notícias em Português
      • Nieuws in het Nederlands
      • Nachrichten in Deutsch
    • Archive
      • 2021 articles
      • 2020 articles
      • 2019 articles
      • 2018 articles
      • 2017 articles
      • 2016 articles
      • 2015 articles
      • 2014 articles
      • 2013 articles
      • 2012 articles
      • 2011 articles
      • 2010 articles
      • 2009 articles
      • 2008 articles
      • 2007 articles
      • 2006 articles
      • 2005 articles
      • 2004 articles
      • 2003 articles
      • 2002 articles
      • 2001 articles
      • 2000 articles
  • Articles
    • GM Myth Makers
    • GM Reports
    • How donations will help us
    • GM Quotes
    • GM Myths
    • Non-GM successes
    • GM Firms
      • Monsanto: a history
      • Monsanto: resources
      • Bayer: a history
      • Bayer: resources
  • Videos
    • Index of speakers
    • Glyphosate Videos
    • Latest Videos
    • Must see videos
    • Health Effects
    • Cornell videos
    • Agriculture videos
    • Labeling videos
    • Animals videos
    • Corporations videos
    • Corporate takeover videos
    • Contamination videos
    • Latin America videos
    • India videos
    • Asia videos
    • Food safety videos
    • Songs videos
    • Protests videos
    • Biofuel myths videos
    • Index of GM crops and foods
  • Contact
  • About
  • Donations
SUBSCRIBE TO REVIEWS

GMWatch Facebook cornfield banner

SCIENCE SUPPORTS REGULATION OF GENE EDITING

Plant tissue cultures

GENE EDITING: UNEXPECTED OUTCOMES AND RISKS

Damaged DNA on fire

GENE-EDITED CROPS & FOODS

Help stop the new threat

News Menu

  • Latest News
  • News Reviews
  • Archive
  • Languages

Please support GMWatch

Donations

You can donate via Paypal or credit/debit card.

Some of you have opted to give a regular donation. This is greatly appreciated as it helps place us on a more stable financial basis. Thank you for your support!

2012 articles

MEPs unhappy with EFSA assessment of Seralini study

  • Print
  • Email
Details
Published: 07 July 2013
Created: 11 December 2012
Last Updated: 11 December 2012
Twitter

MEPs to call in Seralini and EFSA for hearing
EU Food Policy
7 December 2012

MEPs decided this week to invite Eric Gilles Seralini and European Food Safety Authority officials to the Parliament to debate Prof Seralini's findings on the genetically modified maize NK603.

Several MEPs, including Richard Seeber, a coordinator for food for the centre-right EPP political group, said they were not satisfied with the EFSA assessment of the Seralini study.

Mr Seeber, who is in the largest political group, said EFSA rules on independence needed to be tightened and that it should be more transparent. Industry had too much influence over the Authority, he argued.

He and other MEPs said EFSA had reached its conclusions too quickly and that the Seralini work, which claimed NK603 caused cancer in rats, needed to be looked at by independent people in a more detailed way.

The chair of the Petitions Committee, Erminia Mazzoni, also an EPP member, said Prof Seralini and a representative of EFSA would be invited to a meeting. The MEPs were discussing a petition submitted by Brian John, of GM Free Cymru (Wales), to the Petitions Committee.

The most damaging allegation made by Mr John was the claim that Per Bergman, an EFSA director, and Andrew Chesson, a member of the GMO panel, had organised a teleconference to discredit Prof Seralini and limit the damage to EFSA.

Mr John said the teleconference, with four member states, had not discussed "health and safety" but been designed to "eliminate dissent", according to minutes published by the Dutch authorities, who took part along with France, Belgium and Germany.

Mr John said EFSA had set up a "multidisciplinary task force" charged with attacking the Seralini study on all fronts.

Politically expedient

He said the teleconference "was to limit the damage to EFSA and the Commission, to achieve politically expedient outcomes, and to protect the reputations of those who have promoted GMOs in Europe over the past decade".

He argued that EFSA had been "self-selecting" in the information given to a "gullible media" in its press release of 28 November. "The GMO Panel is not fit for purpose," he said.

DG SANCO director Eric Poudelet was the only person at the Petitions Committee to defend EFSA or say anything at all in favour of the Authority.

Mr Poudelet argued that EFSA's work had been extremely detailed, that it had given access to scientific documents (eight requests) and defended EFSA's independence.

He said that six other member states had reached similar conclusions to EFSA on the Seralini study and that agencies in New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, Canada and the United States reached the same conclusions. He strongly rejected the idea that there was some kind of conspiracy.

But the British Green MEP, Ken Taylor, tore into EFSA saying that nobody with an interest in the biotech industry should be on its GMO panel and that the Commission was behaving in "a cavalier manner". He and Vicente Miguel Garces Ramon, a Socialist, argued that it was essential to have more long-term studies on GMOs.

The Danish Green, Margete Auken, argued that "industry is still all over EFSA", in some of the most outspoken comments made at the meeting. Other MEPs expressed concern over the discovery of honey contaminated by GM pollen.

In a separate petition, Mr John criticised the guidelines for GMOs devised by EFSA which the European Commission is to make binding. The Petitions Committee said they would leave this petition open, which means they will continue to pursue it.

An EFSA spokesperson said the Authority had not been invited to the meeting in the Parliament, but that EFSA would be invited to a meeting on the same subject at a later date.

He said the Authority denied the allegations made by Mr John. "Teleconferences with risk assessment bodies in member states are key in helping to inform EFSA's work. EFSA cooperates with member states on a regular basis in order to discuss ongoing scientific issues."

He said EFSA was specifically asked by the Commission when evaluating the Seralini study to take into consideration assessments carried out in member states. "The teleconference was called to address any questions, clarifications or diverging views."

He said each member state was given time to explain their interpretation of the Seralini paper and to ask questions of other participating member states. EFSA's Founding Regulation calls on EFSA to identify as early as possible any potentially diverging scientific opinions, he stressed.

  • Prev
  • Next

Menu

Home

News

News Archive

News Reviews

Videos

Articles

GM Myth Makers

GM Reports

GM Myths

GM Quotes

How Donations Will Help Us

Contacts

Contact Us

About

Facebook

Twitter

RSS

Content 1999 - 2021 GMWatch.
Web Development By SCS Web Design