The findings of a scientist who was forced to retire and whose Scientist who exposed possible dangers of GM foods gets support work was discredited after he highlighted possible health dangers from genetically modified foods have now been backed by leading scientists from 13 countries.
A group of 20 scientists has signed an unprecedented memorandum supporting the controversial findings of Dr Arpad Pusztai, formerly of the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen. Dr Pusztai conducted tests which showed that rats fed on genetically-modified potatoes suffered damage to vital organs and had weakened immune systems.
The scientists called for the reinstatement of Dr Pusztai and funding for extensive research into his results. They held a briefing at Westminster yesterday to support his claims.
Dr Pusztai was suspended last August from the Rowett Institute and forced into early retirement after appearing on the Granada Television World in Action programme. He discussed preliminary results from tests in which rats were fed genetically-modified potatoes which contained high levels of a protein called lectin. This protein has also been introduced into a range of modified foods for human consumption, including maize.
The Rowett Institute said Dr Pusztai had released "misleading information" on the television programme. However, one of the scientists backing Dr Pusztai, Dr Stanley Ewen, a senior pathologist at Aberdeen University medical school, said he had been treated unfairly and his findings should be reinstated.
Dr Ewen has also repeated some of Dr Pusztai's work by feeding the same lectin-rich potatoes to rats. He found that the rats suffered from an enlarged stomach wall after 10 days of feeding trials.
Environmental groups immediately called for a moratorium on the release of genetically-modified (GM) foods, but the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, yesterday ruled this out. "There is no GM food that can be sold in this country without going through a very long regulatory process," he told a BBC local radio station.
Dr Ronald Finn, past president of the British Society of Allergy and Environmental Medicine and a signatory of the memorandum, warned yesterday that it was vital the UK government learned the lessons of BSE and proceeded with caution over GM foods.
"Dr Pusztai's results to date at the very least raise the suspicion that genetically-modified potatoes may damage the immune system," he told the news conference. "If that happened, the consequences of something like a flu epidemic, which currently might lead to a small number of deaths, could be much more serious, he said. "You can imagine a doomsday scenario. If the immune system of the population was weakened, then the mortality would be increased many, many times."
The chairman of the UK's Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes, Prof Janet Bainbridge, criticised the fact that she had been denied access to the new results from Dr Ewen.
The head of the Rowett Institute, Prof Philip James, who ordered Dr Pusztai's suspension, said he had been suspended under "standard, routine procedures" and that he (Dr James) had always been a "strong supporter" of his research work.
He strongly denied that he had been responding to political or commercial pressures when he ordered Dr Pusztai's suspension, although he acknowledged the enormous interest the institute's work attracted.
The Green MEP, Ms Nuala Ahern, demanded an immediate moratorium on the growing of GM crops and a ban on the importation of foods containing GM foodstuffs. "These new gene foods have to be regulated like new drugs and should have to go through full clinical trials," she said yesterday. "If results unfavourable to the industry are being suppressed, then this is absolutely scandalous."
Mr Quentin Gargan, spokesman for Genetic Concern, reiterated its view that the results of Dr Pusztai's experiments were not the main issue. The key argument presented by him was that the kind of tests he applied "had not been carried out at all on other genetically-engineered foods already on the market".
Lectin is a known toxin and occurs naturally in some plants, acting to resist insects. Different lectin forms have been inserted into a number of food crops as a way to provide a natural preventative from insect attack.
These modified plants have not been grown in Ireland, however. The only permits for trials of modified plants in Ireland have been granted to Monsanto for sugar beets that resist glyphosate herbicide.