Myths and Facts on Biodiversity and Biotechnology Klaus Ammann

Myths and Facts on Biodiversity and Biotechnology Klaus Ammann
ROUNDTABLE: SEARCHING FOR SOLUTIONS FOR THE INTERNATIONAL FOOD TRADE Seminary: Biotechnology role in the food chain – food safety, environmental preservation and nutritional benefits Myths and Facts on Biodiversity and Biotechnology Klaus Ammann University of Bern (enhanced version, a reduced set of 35 slides was shonw at the meeting) June 23rd, 2015

1- GMO Debate Background
Gene Editing, a Revolution in Plant Breeding 3- Glyphosate Toxicity, Resistant Weeds 4- Biodiversity and Biotechnology Klaus Ammann, Prof. emeritus University of Berne, Switzerland 54 slides

Ammann Klaus. ( ). The Debate on the Golden Rice and its Background, a Literature Review. name citations with full-text links, May June 15, ASK-FORCE 19. Neuchâtel, Switzerland. pp. 190 Retrieved from Ammann Klaus. (2015). Review: Biodiversity and Biotechnology. Chapter 3.11 of GM Debate: Summary ASK-FORCE AF-11 Biodiversity and Biotechnology, update 15. June ASK-FORCE-11, AF-11, pp Ammann Klaus. (2015). Systems Approach Second Generation for a pragmatic debate on the future of Agriculture. Rules for a successful Discourse and long term iterative Planning-Design beyond the present day ideological fights on breeding methods and agricultural strategies. Draft Nov. 18, ASK-FORCE 17, AF-17, pp Ammann Klaus. (2015). Towards a Product-based Regulation of GMOs, a follow-up for 2015, draft 15. June ASK-FORCE, pp

Hindered innovation in agriculture: Ignorance, misunderstandings and professional fear-mongering. An analysis of dynamics and origins of the fake debate, driven by fear, moral self-licensing, tribal solidarity, stigmatization and other feelings and dealings rooted in the evolution of mankind 2.1. Introduction, the political environment of the debate: We have lost contact with the reality of hunger epidemics, racism, global child abuse, modern slavery, food-waste, epidemic violence supported by shameless arms trafficking, illegal money flow, eco-imperialism, violent extremism of all kinds. Strange pseudo-cultural tendencies develop alongside a romantic concept of nature from which humans should be excluded, all ending into a “March of Unreason”. The trap of false correlation is an endless and often hilarious topic, often the creators fell into seemingly “obvious” matches under the principle of “the Wish is the Father of the Thought”. 2.2. The politics of fear: Conditioned fear provides a critical survival-related function in the face of threats by activating a range of protective behaviors, but often abused by activists. That makes fear "far, far more powerful than reason," say neuro-biologists. Some say, fear is the mother of all human behavior. Neural modelling can open doors for better explanations of fear dynamics in human society, despite its own limits. 2.3. Science is left behind, it’s a matter of technophilia against technophobia. Promoters of GMOs get often trapped in a debate focusing solely on facts, which is per se ok and always again necessary when biased – so called ‘peer-reviewed’ papers are published, but we need to see the full picture of the debate.

2.4. There is stigmatization on the social level, discrimination of all kinds have happened through history in most countries on the globe, sometimes perverting into human catastrophes as in fascism, the psychological roots and behavior are present throughout the history of mankind. Stigmatization on the level of things: our case of GMOs discriminated against conventional crops due to the un-reflected Genomic Misconception. Stigmatization on the personal level often results in persistent mobbing, moral attacks and ad-personam threats resulting in violence. 2.5. Moral self-licensing can result into stone-hard conviction to do good despite of overstepping laws. Tribal solidarity leads to more activism including outlaw attitudes. And it often results into easy acceptance of populist horror stories. Tribal solidarity can lead to parallel science and inertia against scientifically sound arguments. 2.6. The hunt for more research money for reasons beyond seriousness: Nowadays it is not easy to finance research projects, so more and more detailed research is invented in order to “enhance” the biosafety status of Bt-maize. 2.7. The wrong view about nature: it leads to the urgent need to minimal disturbance, and the view that man is the enemy of pristine nature, an unhealthy and devastating divide.

Crab-Rhino EVIL ALWAYS FASCINATES GOODNESS RARELY ENTERTAINS
brawlsnapshots.com

“I eat organic food and drink only green tea– gallons of it when I’m writing. I smoke cigarettes, but organic ones” Discussing her “healthy” lifestyle in Organic Style magazine March 2005.

The Euro-Bills are made out of transgenic Bt - cotton
bye bye Heliotis bye bye pesticides Percentage GM cotton in the USA Bt-toxin may be hazardous to your health, don‘t swallow and keep away from children: a propaganda lie strikes back

Natural GMO? Sweet Potato Genetically Modified 8,000 Years Ago
Tyna Kynth Gent University Belgium Main author Of PNAS paper natural-gmo-sweet-potato-genetically-modified years-ago Kyndt, T., Quispe, D., Zhai, H., Jarret, R., Ghislain, M., Liu, Q., Gheysen, G., & Kreuze, J. F. (2015). The genome of cultivated sweet potato contains Agrobacterium T-DNAs with expressed genes: An example of a naturally transgenic food crop. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, For those who cannot get enough science, watch

Organization of IbT-DNA1 and IbT-DNA2 in the genome of sweet potato
Organization of IbT-DNA1 and IbT-DNA2 in the genome of sweet potato. (A) IbT-DNA1 of landrace “Huachano,” including ORFs showing significant homology to iaaM, iaaH, C-prot, and Acs and a truncated iaaM in inverted orientation. This T-DNA is located in an intron of a gene showing strong homology to plant F-box genes. The regions with significant similarity to plant sequences is shown as a yellow line. (B) IbT-DNA2 of “Huachano,” including ORFs with significant homology to ORF14, ORF17n, RolB/RolC, ORF13, and ORF18/ORF17n. The locations of the probes used for Southern blots are indicated in red below the corresponding gene regions, and the positions of the SpeI restriction sites are shown in blue. National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) GenBank sequence accession numbers are indicated between parentheses for each T-DNA. . Kyndt, T., Quispe, D., Zhai, H., Jarret, R., Ghislain, M., Liu, Q., Gheysen, G., & Kreuze, J. F. (2015). The genome of cultivated sweet potato contains Agrobacterium T-DNAs with expressed genes: An example of a naturally transgenic food crop. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, pp /pnas AND AND AND AND AND AND AND

Kyndt, T. , Quispe, D. , Zhai, H. , Jarret, R. , Ghislain, M. , Liu, Q
Kyndt, T., Quispe, D., Zhai, H., Jarret, R., Ghislain, M., Liu, Q., Gheysen, G., & Kreuze, J. F. (2015). The genome of cultivated sweet potato contains Agrobacterium T-DNAs with expressed genes: An example of a naturally transgenic food crop. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, pp /pnas AND AND AND AND AND AND AND

Fig. 5 Engineered nuclease-mediated genome editing
Fig. 5 Engineered nuclease-mediated genome editing. Engineered nucleases such as the CRISPR-Cas9 or TAL effectors can be designed to target specific sites in the genome, creating double-strand breaks (DSBs) at desired locations. The natural repair mechanisms of the cell repair the break by either homologous recombination (HR) or non-homologous end joining (NHEJ). HR is more precise, since it requires a template, allowing the introduction of foreign DNA into the target gene. Homologous DNA “donor sequences” can be used with homology-directed repair (HDR) to introduce a defined new DNA sequence. DSB repair by NHEJ is likely to introduce errors such as insertions or deletions (indels), leading to a nonfunctional gene. From (Life Technologies, 2015) Full Review of Gene Editing with literature full text references: Ammann Klaus. (2015). Towards a Product-based Regulation of GMOs, a follow-up for 2015, draft 15. June ASK-FORCE, pp

Wrong: the molecular processes are
Urban Myth Transgenic and non-transgenic crops are basically different Wrong: the molecular processes are with both the same Ammann, K. ( ) Genomic Misconception: A fresh look at the biosafety of transgenic and conventional crops, a plea for a process agnostic regulation New Biotechnology, in press, pp 32

Interestingly, naturally occurring molecular evolution,
i.e. the spontaneous generation of genetic variants has been seen to follow exactly the same three strategies as those used in genetic engineering14. These three strategies are (after W. Arber, Nobel Laureate 1978) (a) small local changes in the nucleotide sequences, (b) internal reshuffling of genomic DNA segments, and (c) acquisition of usually rather small segments of DNA from another type of organism by horizontal gene transfer. Arber, W. (2002) Roots, strategies and prospects of functional genomics. Current Science, 83, 7, pp Arber, W. (2010) Genetic engineering compared to natural genetic variations. New Biotechnology, 27, 5, pp

Arber, W. (2011). Molecular Darwinism:
The Contingency of Spontaneous Genetic Variation. Genome Biology and Evolution, 3, <Go to ISI>://WOS: AND

However, there is a principal difference between the procedures of genetic engineering and those serving in nature for biological evolution. While the genetic engineer pre-reflects his alteration and verifies its results, nature places its genetic variations more randomly and largely independent of an identified goal. After ca. 15 years of testing the GM crops are brought to the field by millions in a few years Arber, W. (2002) Roots, strategies and prospects of functional genomics. Current Science, 83, 7, pp

“There is no evidence that unique hazards exist either in the use of R-DNA techniques or in the transfer of genes between unrelated organisms”, and: “The risks associated with R-DNA engineered organisms are the same in kind as those associated with the introduction into the environment of unmodified organisms and organisms modified by other genetic techniques.” and: “Assessment of the risks of introducing R-DNA-engineered organisms into the environment should be based on the nature of the organism and the environment into which it will be introduced, not on the method by which it was modified.”

Pontifical Academy of Science Vatican Conference on Transgenic Plants for Food Security in the Context of Development Bishop Marcelo Sanchez – Sorondo, Secretary, Prof. Dr. Werner Arber, President, Nobel Laureate Potrykus, I. and K. Ammann (2010), Transgenic Plants for Food Security in the Context of Development, Conference Proceedings and Statements of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, M. Taussig, New Biotechnology, 27, open source, pp , Elsevier, Amsterdam, AND on Vatican Website AND on Host ASK-FORCE: Press release

Scatter plot representation of transcriptome comparisons, Baudo et al
Baudo: comparison in genomic disturbance: GM crops are less disturbed (black dots) than classic breeds transgenic vs. control endosperm 14 dpa 28 dpa 8 dpg Baudo, M.M., Lyons, R., Powers, S., Pastori, G.M., Edwards, K.J., Holdsworth, M.J., & Shewry, P.R. (2006) Transgenic Wheat: Where Do We Stand after the First 12 Years? Annals of Applied Biology, 147, 1, pp 1-14 Transgenesis Has Less Impact on the Transcriptome of Wheat Grain Than Conventional Breeding. Plant Biotechnology Journal, 4, 4, pp Shewry, P.R. & Jones, H.D. (2005) 2 conventional lines Endosperm 14 dpa 28 dpa leaf at 8 dpg transgenic vs. conventional Endosperm 14 dpa 28 dpa leaf at 8 dpg

Radiation breeding as field experiments
Gamma Field for radiation breeding Radiation breeding as field experiments 100m radius 89 TBq Co-60 source at the center Shielding dike 8m high 60 min 4min 4min Better spaghettis, whisky 1800 new plants Institute of Radiation Breeding Ibaraki-ken, JAPAN

UN's International Atomic Energy Agency
Reuters, May 10, 2010 UN's International Atomic Energy Agency since 1963, 2,252 new plant varieties, including Italian durum wheat, have been created using radioactive substances such as cobalt and X-rays. 70% of the crops under cultivation worldwide are radiation mutation varieties Charles Margulis of Greenpeace USA: "But now they tell us that scientists have been artificially hybridizing plants since the 1960s. That's, like, really uncool."

Activists, supported by Jane Rissler, called for a ban, since those irradiated varieties have never been tested for food safety, which would have wiped out 70% of the food products on shelfs. Rissler: “Compared to these plants, genetically modified food is about as dangerous as a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest.” But excellent repair mechanisms working like zippers are reducing radiation damage considerably And worldwide there has been no correlation established between radiation mutation and negative food safety facts. (Reuters 2001 continued)

FRANKENSTEIN Durum Wheat, Triticum durum: all major breeds
have gone though massive and inprecise radiation breeding, but with Important success unnecessary fearmongering

European Biosafety and the Cartagena Protocol
The biosafety protocol is based on the wrong Premises: See Genomic Misconception in this slides: Natural Mutation and transgenesis are the same on the molecular level.

Glyphosate is toxic to humans and animals
Urban Myth Glyphosate is toxic to humans and animals Wrong: Hundreds of scientific publications have proven that glyphosate (including its admixtures) have a very low toxicity, classification 1 (coffee, salt, aspirin etc.) Williams Amy Lavin, Watson Rebecca E., & DeSesso John M. (2012). Developmental and Reproductive Outcomes in Humans and Animals After Glyphosate Exposure: A Critical Analysis. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part B, 15(1), pp AND AND Correspondence: It was concluded that, under present and expected conditions of use, Roundup herbicide does not pose a health risk to humans.

Its just another Anti-GMO-Propaganda Hoax
False claims: “Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome Consequences are most of the diseases and conditions associated with a Western diet, which include gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, infertility, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. Its just another Anti-GMO-Propaganda Hoax The basis for claims of inhibition of CYP enzyme inhibition is tenuous which has been deemed inappropriate for characterizing risk to humans by regulatory authorities. There is a long human and ecological safety record for glyphosate that shows no indication of impact on cytochrome(s) P450 resulting in an adverse effect. Samsel, A. and S. Seneff (2013), Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Diseases Entropy, 15, 4, pp , AND AND AND AND

Guyton, K. Z. , Loomis, D. , Grosse, Y. , El Ghissassi, F
Guyton, K. Z., Loomis, D., Grosse, Y., El Ghissassi, F., Benbrahim-Tallaa, L., Guha, N., Scoccianti, C., Mattock, H., & Straif, K. Carcinogenicity of tetrachlorvinphos, parathion, malathion, diazinon, and glyphosate. The Lancet Oncology, 16(5), pp AND

There is no new research or data presented
There is no new research or data presented. Each of the studies considered by IARC have been previously reviewed and considered by regulatory agencies – most recently by the German government on behalf of the European Union. (1) Relevant, scientific data was excluded from review. IARC received and purposefully disregarded dozens of scientific studies – specifically genetic toxicity studies –that support the conclusion glyphosate is not a human health risk. See a draft blog with numerous full text citations: (2) The conclusion is not supported by scientific data. IARC’s classification is inconsistent with the numerous multi-year, comprehensive assessments conducted by hundreds of scientists from countries worldwide who are responsible for ensuring public safety. IARC’s classification does not establish a link between glyphosate and an increase in cancer. It’s important to put IARC’s classifications into perspective: IARC has classified numerous everyday items in Category 2 including coffee, cell phones, aloe vera extract and pickled vegetables, BfR. ( ). Does glyphosate cause cancer? pp. 2 Berlin: BfU ISBN/ISSN BrR, Bundesinstitut für Risikobwertung Retrieved from AND (2) Ammann Klaus. (2015). Glyphosate Information, a Literature Review, ASK-FORCE 15, Draft pp. 45: K. Ammann ISBN/ISSN Retrieved from

Glyphosate lies of the German TV
Falsification of Glyphosate-birth damage Documented in Szibor 2011: Birth defect claimed caused by Glyphosate in a documentary of the German TV in Argentina: a 15 years old girl claims to have been damaged before birth because of glyphosate, in a documentary produced in The incident happened in 1995, years before the introdution of Glyphosate. CONCLUSION: ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE, A PROPAGANDA HOAX When we alerted the German TV makers, they avoided the age of the girl in the second sending, problem solved... Szibor Reinhard (2011), Memorandum zur Verantwortung der Kirchen hinsichtlich des Themenkreises Grüne Gentechnik Forum Gruene Vernunft No. pp. 30,

being peer reviewed again.
Séralinade No.1 Gilles Eric Séralini is a well known anti-GMO fundamentalist with a long track-record of massively flawed papers. His first campaign of global echo started in 2012 with a publication (rats get tumors with glyphosate and Bt maize feed), later retracted, the major flaws>: Used rats are highly prone to early natural tumors, major data not revealed, sample size much too low, therefore statistics unreliable, José Domingo as major peer reviewer with biased GMO review papers with filtered reference lists. After retraction the paper was re-published in a well known anti-GMO journal without being peer reviewed again. a rebuttal in: Arjó, G., Portero, M., Piñol, C., Viñas, J., Matias-Guiu, X., Capell, T., Bartholomaeus, A., Parrott, W., & Christou, P. (2013). Plurality of opinion, scientific discourse and pseudoscience: an in depth analysis of the Séralini et al. study claiming that Roundup™ Ready corn or the herbicide Roundup™ cause cancer in rats. Transgenic Research, pp AND AND About the retraction: Resnik, D. B. (2015). Retracting Inconclusive Research: Lessons from the Séralini GM Maize Feeding Study. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, pp AND

Summarized by David Resnik in 2015.
Séralinade No.2 The new paper has been proudly announced June in a press conference, where a link to the text in PLOSone is produced which does not work, more thorough research resulted into the fact that PLOSone has spontaneously withhold the publication without giving a date of publication Séralini must have been surprised, since in his own newsletter he cannot produce the study. There is some good element in Séralinis wrongdoing by sending the not released text prior to the press conference to buddy journalists – as he did in 2012, provoking the European Science Journalist Union EUSJA to protest, This time (2015) the good side about this misbehavior is that we can read the not published text through anonymous leaking. There is hope that Séralini this time makes a veritable first in publishing science papers: a retraction before publication… There is an excellent rebuttal of the non-published text by the Genetic Literacy Project, see some comments next slide: Bernstein Alison. ( ). Scientist deconstructs Séralini’s PLOS GMO study: ‘Failed attempt at redemption’ with 54 comments. Genetic Literacy Project, AND The never ending story about the retraction of the 2012 Séralini-paper is Summarized by David Resnik in 2015.

The case of flawed publications of CRIIGEN, the French Séralini Group
In previous publications Séralini and his researchers got a lot of publicity, but the main study revealed to be deeply flawed and was finally fully retracted Séralini worked with Sprague-Dewey rats which have been developed to get within a few months spontaneous cancer, a reason to reject the study which contained many other flaws. A recent study claims that all previously done research on toxicity of glyphosate and Bt toxin are worthless, since the certified rat feed contains traces of pesticides. This is Another ridiculous claim swiftly debunked by many scientific comments The following text debunks most of the old and new accusations as scientifically untenable, it contains all the necessary links to old and new papers Bernstein Alison ( ). Scientist deconstructs Séralini’s PLOS GMO study: ‘Failed attempt at redemption’ with 54 comments. Genetic Literacy Project, AND

The conclusions in the Séralini 2015 released text before publication:
“It therefore appears that the cause of diseases and disorders found in laboratory rats has been too quickly attributed to the genetic characteristics of the species used.” In other words, the rats are dying from GMOs and pesticides like glyphosate in feeds. Bernstein as a neuroscientist finds the conclusions of Séralini baffling, the comments are devastating for the authors: “These results do not mean much, given the absence of any data suggesting a correlation between diet and phenotype, a trait, in laboratory rodents. They have presented zero evidence from their own work or published work that feed contamination is an issue for laboratory animal health. They present no data on animal health and no data about which feeds, fed to which strains produce which pathological phenotypes. They also completely ignore the fact that different strains of rodents have different phenotypes and rates of spontaneous pathology. The authors have made a huge logical leap in concluding that this data calls into question all historical data used as external controls.” Bernstein cites van Eenennam with comprehensive studies, fully debunking Séralini’s claims: Van Eenennaam, A. L. (2013). GMOs in animal agriculture: time to consider both costs and benefits in regulatory evaluations. Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology, 4, pp. <Go to ISI>://WOS: AND Van Eenennaam, A. L., & Young, A. E. (2014). Prevalence and impacts of genetically engineered feedstuffs on livestock populations. Journal of Animal Science, 92(10), pp <Go to ISI>://WOS: AND

comments about this grave error:
Séralini is a one-track minded person and does never listen to his critiques, on the contrary: He is deeply convinced that his adversaries are all paid by the evil industry reproducing always the same weak rebuttals. One of the arguments of his opposing colleagues is his permanent use of Sprague-Dewey rats. Read Bernsteins comments about this grave error: “This specific breed of rats is well known to be prone to develop cancer with age and especially when there is no dietary restriction. For example, Prejean et al. (1973) noted a spontaneous tumor incidence of 45% in 360 Sprague–Dawley rats (179 males and 181 females) in an 18-month series of carcinogenesis experiments. The percentage of female rats with tumors was almost double that of males. Durbin et al. (1966) reported a mean incidence of 71%, the peak incidence in normally aging rats were age-related with abrupt increases in the rate of development of mammary tumor, one occurring at about the 500th and the other at about the 660th day of life, with the median age at 671 ± 41 days. Harlan, the company that marketed the animals, describes the high incidence of 76% of mammary gland tumors (predominantly fibroademonas) in females on Life-span and Spontaneous Disease of Sprague-Dawley. Keenan et al. (1995) describes spontaneous tumours in up to 87% of females and up to 71% of males fed ad lib. Dietary restriction significantly reduced the incidence of tumors. Durbin, P. W., Williams, M. H., Jeung, N., & Arnold, J. S. (1966). DEVELOPMENT OF SPONTANEOUS MAMMARY TUMORS OVER LIFE-SPAN OF FEMALE CHARLES RIVER (SPRAGUE-DAWLEY) RAT - INFLUENCE OF OVARIECTOMY THYROIDECTOMY AND ADRENALECTOMY-OVARIECTOMY. Cancer Research, 26(3P1), pp. 400-&. <Go to ISI>://WOS:A AND

Demonstrates the systemic mistakes in results you get when
using Sprague-Dawley rats Eldridge, J.C., Wetzel, L.T., Stevens, J.T., & Simpkins, J.W. (1999) The mammary tumor response in triazine-treated female rats: A threshold-mediated interaction with strain and species-specific reproductive senescence. Steroids, 64, 9, pp

Reduced caloric intake reduces tumor incidence
Limiting the number of calories reduces tumor incidence. Seralini allowed rat feeding ad libitum (no restriction) Slide by K. Ammann Ross, M.H. & Bras, G. (1965) TUMOR INCIDENCE PATTERNS AND NUTRITION IN RAT. Journal of Nutrition, 87, 3, pp 245-& <Go to ISI>://WOS:A AND

2-year carcinogenicity study with nelfinavir.
Figure 2 Adjusted survival curves for male rats (top panel) and female rats (bottom panel) in the 2-year carcinogenicity study with nelfinavir. Burns-Naas, L.A., Zorbas, M., Jessen, B., Evering, W., Stevens, G., Ivett, J.L., Ryan, T.E., Cook, J.C., Capen, C.C., Chen, M., Furman, G., Theiss, J.C., Webber, S., Wu, E., Shetty, B., Gasser, R., & McClain, R.M. (2005) Increase in thyroid follicular cell tumors in nelfinavir-treated rats observed in a 2-year carcinogenicity study is consistent with a rat-specific mechanism of thyroid neoplasia. Human & Experimental Toxicology,

More extensive critique of the latest Séralini-hoax and CRIIGEN
Compare the two versions of the new paper: The pre-released version June 17 without authorization of PNAS, The final version from July 2 PNAS demanded the omission of The high background rate of pathologies in laboratory rodents could be due to dietary contaminants. This invalidates the use of external controls (historical data) in regulatory tests consisting of comparisons of toxicological effects of control rats from other experiments, because those rats are fed with different mixtures of pollutants. This also questions the use of 50 rats per group in carcinogenicity studies to increase the statistical power lost due to the elevated pathology background. In the Introduction cancelled: To estimate the hazards due to chronic exposure to these contaminants in diets we calculated the chronic non-cancer hazard indexes (HI) (to take into account general toxicological But in the conclusions nearly identical wording is still appearing: So it is not correct when the GLP Rebuttal claims the elimination of the text above. What is now really counting??? Highly selective literature list with blatantly wrong citations More details in ftp://server-p010.hostpoint.ch/www/ask-force.org/web/Seralini/Seralinade pdf

But in the conclusions nearly identical wording is still appearing: So it is not correct when the GLP Rebuttal claims the elimination of the text above. What is now really counting??? It is not correct that the GLP publication from June 2 claims the elimination Of the text above, its still there in the final lines of the discussion p.13/17: In conclusion, the fact that all laboratory rodent diets tested are contaminated by toxic environmental chemicals (mean SHQ = 23 ± 7, far above the preoccupying level of 1) has huge consequences to current practices in biomedical research. Moreover, the HQ is enhanced for mouse, young rats or depending on the periods of exposures during development because their daily intake is more important [24]. All these data taken together invalidate the use of historical control data and questions the use of at least 50 rats per group in carcinogenicity studies. Similarly and very recently, Kuroiwa et al. [69] concluded that the diverse and fluctuant incidences of pathologies in historical data may be caused by environmental factors, rather than “spontaneous” or genetic causes in F344 rats. GLP, & Genetic Literacy Project. ( ). Global scientists assess homeopathy-funded Séralini study claiming all GMO tests ‘contaminated. GLP Genetic Literacy Project. AND There are a range of toxicology authorities debunking the study completely: Two organizations, the Science Media Centre in the UK and Washington, DC based GENeS–Genetic Expert News Service–an independent, foundation funded NGO–solicit expert opinions from independent researchers on breaking genetics stories. Both organizations have posted analyses on their respective websites. The GLP summarize a few key reactions here, but we urge readers to visit those websites directly for extended comments. Dr. Richard E. Goodman, Research Professor in the Food Allergy Research and Resource Program, University of Nebraska (webpage): Pr. Frédéric Y. Bois, Professor at Sorbonne UTC, and Research Director at L’Institut National de l’Environnement Industriel et des Risques (INERIS) (webpage) Dr. Carl Winter, Cooperative Extension Food Toxicologist, University of California, Davis (webpage): Prof Maurice Moloney, CEO of the Global Institute for Food Security, Canada (An Institute of the University of Saskatchewan) Prof Cathie Martin, Group Leader, John Innes Centre Prof Tamara Galloway, Professor of Ecotoxicology, University of Exeter Prof Alan Boobis, Professor of Biochemical Pharmacology, Imperial College London Prof Tony Dayan, Emeritus Toxicologist Dr Graham Tobin, Technical Director, Harlan Laboratories, Europe/ROW

Seralini’s self proclaimed independence of research is a hoax.
The main defence of Seralini et al after the massive criticisms of their work was accusing those who criticised of not being independent, and proclaiming themselves as ‘independent’ This is a hoax. Apart from the widespread issued concerns about Seralini’s ties with companies, anti-biotech NGOs and politicians, we should remember that criticisms on the work of Seralini et al by individual scientists, academic establishments, research institutes, national bodies and EFSA are based onscience. As said by Olivier Godard, Research Director at the French public institute CNRS, during ahearing at the French National Assembly on 19 November 2012, “The right question to ask to ensure the independence of collective expertise is not ‘tell me to who you are linked to…’ but ‘what are the arguments that justify your viewpoint….’.” Olenyi Sebastian ( ) Electronic Source: GM crops: Forget the money, follow the science (ed S. Olenyi), published by: The BTS blog of the Biotechnology and Society group of the TU Delft and Euractiv AND

www..alerte-environmnement.fr infographie

The “dark side” of Professor Séralini
Of the many people in the entourage of Professor Gilles-Eric Séralini, there are his friends from Sevene Pharma, a discreet company owned by the leaders of a strange movement. Riviere-Wekstein, G. (201212) Decryptage La « part d’ombre » du professeur Séralini. ae, Agriculture et Environment, 109, pp 7 AND

Authors’ contributions CG carried out the cellular, biochemical and molecular studies, participated in drafting the manuscript. NB and EC reproduced and helped the cellular experiments. CT participated in the methodological and protocol advices, and discussions. FL initiated the collaboration in Sevene Pharma and carefully followed the first sets of experiments for the protocol design. CL participated in Dig1 conception and discussions. CDL directed Dig1 assessment for Sevene Pharma and GES conceived the study, the final version of the manuscript, participated in the design of the work and was responsible for the coordination. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. The development of Dig1 in Sevene Pharma was performed completely independently of its assessment. The scientists in the University of Caen in charge of the assessment of xenobiotics or plant extracts declare no financial or other interests in the development of these products. Gasnier, C., Benachour, N., Clair, E., Travert, C., Langlois, F., Laurant, C., Decroix-Laporte, C., & Seralini, G.-E. (2010) Dig1 protects against cell death provoked by glyphosate-based herbicides in human liver cell lines. Journal of occupational medicine and toxicology (London, England), 5, pp

Biographical Centre has nothing to do with Cambridge University.
CRIIGEN’s website credits the Professor with being recently named the "International Scientist of the year 2011" in a bogus certificate awarded by the International Biographical Centre of Cambridge, England. The International Biographical Centre has nothing to do with Cambridge University. Edwards, I.B. & Beetles, C. (2012) Information about Australian Tour of G.E. Seralini in February 2012 Newspaper, Report and Fake Diploma, Stock & Land, pp (Stock & Land, Article) see comment in French by Marcel Kunzt:

Mercosur consolidates as leading soybean region with 52% of world’s production
Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia harvest 136 million tons annually, compared to the 83 from the United States and the world’s 260 million tons (2011)

Urban Myth Crop varieties have diminished due to modern biotechnology breeding Wrong: A new worldwide market study shows the contrary: Crop varieties have steadily grown in numbers since WW II

van de Wouw, M. , van Hintum, T. , Kik, C. , van Treuren, R
van de Wouw, M., van Hintum, T., Kik, C., van Treuren, R., & Visser, B. (2010) Genetic diversity trends in twentieth century crop cultivars: a meta analysis. TAG Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 120, 6, pp

Source: National Geographic, July 2011
A Century Ago In 1930 commercial seed houses offered hundreds of varieties as shown in this sampling of ten crops 80 Years Later By 1983 few of those varieties were found in the National Seed Storage Laboratory Source: National Geographic, July 2011 with completely wrong numbers based on the old RAFI study Fowler, C. & Mooney, P., R., (1990) US: Shattering : food, politics, and the loss of genetic diversity GB: The threatened gene: Food, politics and the loss of genetic diversity US: The University of Arizona Press GB: Lutterworth Press P.O. Box 60 Cambridge CB12NT Printed Billing & Sons Ltd, Worcester, US: Tucson GB: Cambridge, IS: ISBN , pp xvi, 278 p AND from the etc Group:

Heald, P.J. & Chapman, S. (2011) Veggie Tales: Pernicious Myths About Patents, Innovation, and Crop Diversity in the Twentieth Century. SSRN eLibrary, pp

Urban Myth Organic Farming and Modern Agriculture including Genetic Engineering cannot go together Wrong: Organic farming needs crops adapted to the special needs of agro-ecology by modern biotechnological methods

Integrated farming: Why organic farmers should use transgenic crops
Full text links Ammann Klaus. (2008). Feature: Integrated farming: Why organic farmers should use transgenic crops, fulltext links. New Biotechnology, 25(2), pp DOI: AND Printed version Ammann Klaus. (2008). Feature: Integrated farming: Why organic farmers should use transgenic crops, print. New Biotechnology, 25(2), pp

Why high tech farmers should adopt Organic management
Full text links Ammann Klaus. (2009). Feature: Why farming with high tech methods should integrate elements of organic agriculture. accepted, corrected proof, open links. New Biotechnology, 4, pp. AND Printed version Ammann Klaus. (2009). Feature: Why farming with high tech methods should integrate elements of organic agriculture, print. New Biotechnology, 25(6), pp AND

The 2013 World Food Prize was presented in Des Moines, Iowa
The 2013 World Food Prize was presented in Des Moines, Iowa. Pictured left to right are: M.S. Swaminathan, the first World Food Prize laureate and now chair of the laureate selection committee; 2013 prize winner Marc Van Montagu; Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, president of Iceland; 2013 prize winner Mary-Dell Chilton; 2013 prize winner Robert Fraley; and John Ruan III, chair of the World Food Prize. Photo: World Food Prize.

Ronald, P.C. & Adamchak, R.W. (2008)
Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food Oxford University Press, USA (April 18, 2008) IS: ISBN-10: ISBN-13: pp 232 Book review by J. Gressel

Organic-conventional ratio Positive for conventional crops
Comparison Yield Organic-conventional ratio Positive for conventional crops Seufert, V., Ramankutty, N., & Foley, J. A. (2012). Comparing the yields of organic and conventional agriculture. Nature, advance online publication, pp. AND AND AND AND AND

Pesticides, foto Claus Lange
Bauer Aad de Jonge, Netherlands, produced standard organic vegetables without Pesticides, foto Claus Lange Miersch Michael. (200306). Hightech-Landwirtschaft: Rentabel und umweltfreundlich. Die Weltwoche, 7. AND

Amish farmers in biotech-debate: subsequent partial adoption
of transgenic crops: 1999, see:

In Minnesota, organic and semi-organic produce collected from the southeastern (SE) part of the state were at a significantly greater risk of E. coli contamination (OR=3.45, 95% CI=1.8–35.2, P=0.008), compared to those collected from farms located in the southern (S) regions of the state. In Wisconsin, organic and semi-organic produce collected from the southern (S) cluster of farms were at approximately 3-times greater risk of E. coli contamination (OR=2.67, 95% CI=1.3–9.4, P=0.004), compared to those grown in the northern (N) cluster of farms.

An early and prophetic paper based on solid science describes all the future difficulties with EHEC of all sorts: Contamination through manure-contaminated irrigation water, transmitted to plant tissue and its subsequend internalization into the plants. Solomon, E.B., Yaron, S., & Matthews, K.R. (2002) Transmission of Escherichia coli O157 : H7 from contaminated manure and irrigation water to lettuce plant tissue and its subsequent internalization. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 68, 1, pp

Since early May 2011, a large outbreak of haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) and bloody diarrhoea related to infections with Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) has been observed in Germany. The outbreak is focused in the north, but cases have been reported from all German states and other countries. Since our report last week, the number of HUS cases has increased to 470 and STEC serotype O104 has been confirmed in many cases. Askar M, F.M., Frank C, Bernard H, Gilsdorf A, Fruth A, Prager R, Höhle M, Suess T, Wadl M, Krause G, Stark K, Werber D. (2011) Update on the ongoing outbreak of haemolytic uraemic syndrome due to Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) serotype O104, Germany, May Euro Surveill., 16, 22, pp pii=19883 AND

Semiorganic, organic and Conventional farms from Which at least one
Prevalence of E.coli on Semiorganic, organic and Conventional farms from Which at least one Contaminated samble was Collected in A 2003 B 2004 Mukherjee, A., Speh, D., Jones, A.T., Buesing, K.M., & Diez-Gonzalez, F. (2006) Longitudinal microbiological survey of fresh produce grown by farmers in the upper midwest. Journal of Food Protection, 69, 8, pp

Survival of E. coli O157-H7 in inoculated compost-
Amended or inoculated water-irrigated soil samples Islam, M., Doyle, M.P., Phatak, S.C., Millner, P., & Jiang, X.P. (2005) Survival of Escherichia coli O157 : H7 in soil and on carrots and onions grown in fields treated with contaminated manure composts or irrigation water. Food Microbiology, 22, 1, pp

Preventing Golden Rice is a Humanitarian Crime
Today we know that in developing countries between 250,000 and 500,000 children become blind annually, and half of them die within 12 months of losing their sight Article 24 Health and health services. The child has a right to the highest standard of health and medical care attainable. States shall place special emphasis on the reduction of infant and child mortality and on the provision of primary and preventive health care and of public health education. They shall encourage international cooperation in this regard and strive to see that no child is deprived of access to effective health services. United Nations. (1948). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Paris: United Nations Retrieved from AND AND Declaration Paris AND To be explicit: we should all accuse the opponents of committing a humanitarian crime by preventing the swift introduction of the Golden Rice. There are two elements of such guilt: firstly by the direct, untruthful propaganda actions worldwide, including research field destructions in situ, and secondly by making sure that the regulatory hurdles are unrealistically high.

Grazie! · Thank you! Nature Biotechnology
“It can be seen as a demolition of a scientific cultural monument, an act of legal vandalism,” says Klaus Ammann University of Bern.“ Meldolesi, A. (2012) Destruction of transgenic olive field trial dubbed 'vandalism'. Nat Biotech, 30, 8, pp Destruction of 30 years of field research Prof. Eddo Ruggini Università di Tusca

Myths and Facts on Biodiversity and Biotechnology Klaus Ammann

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Myths and Facts on Biodiversity and Biotechnology Klaus Ammann

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