Toxicity of Bisphenol-A (BPA) in mammals and humans – February 2009

It seems dangerous today for human health to continue using BPA and in particular in food wrapping materials, moreover its use in the industry should be banned. The exposure of infants and children to BPA should be reduced, as quickly as possible, as they are the most sensitive persons relative to endocrine disruptors, due to their low weight, but also due to the fact they are growing. The present regulation does not sufficiently take endocrine disruptors into account to authorise and set limits in the use of a product, as what is studied is almost only acute toxicity.

Read the report

Read an article in French on the topic in the Canadian newspaper La Presse on 26 February 2009.

Where is BPA found? Meaning of the recycling codes

See the poster presented during the first international congress on environmental pathologies which took place on 9 & 10 October 2009

Reopening of the expertise work on BPA and PFOA by the new director of AFSSA.

http://www.reseau-environnement-sante.fr/ressources/mediatheque/81-communique-de-presse-16-octobre-2009--rencontre-res-afssa.html

4 December 2008

CRIIGEN  is delighted by the impact of the Lepage Mission on the Council of Ministers for the Environment, which  has instructed EFSA again to reconsider its assessment methods of GMOs in the long term.

On the 4 December 2008, the European Ministers for the Environment have met to finalize the reflections conducted over the last six months towards an evolution of the regulations of GMOs at Community level (cf Inf'OGM n°95)...

Read the European Ministers’ report

http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d0960high.pdf

Anne Furet,  of Inf'OGM, drafted an excellent summary of the work accomplished by the Lepage Mission in which Gilles-Eric Séralini of CRIIGEN was sitting. Please read below:

"On 11 June 2008, Corinne Lepage handed Jean-Louis Borloo the second part of her report on expertise environment information in which she points out blatant weaknesses in the European assessment of GMOs, and comes up with several recommendations. She has already handed in a preliminary report in February 2008, with over 80 proposals in relation to the right to information on the environment, expertise and liability.  

February 2008
 Download Report 1 in English

April 2008

To the Ladies and Gentlemen of the Biomolecular Engineering Commission 

On 29 May 2007, we were summoned before the Commission about the international publication of our study on the signs of toxicity of the MON863 GMO maize. But due to the very conditions of the meeting, we never had a chance to express ourselves on the substance of our work.

We would like to underline in particular that the first point had to do with the weight charts of the rats and was relying on a report that was never forwarded to us, and that is a shame, because if we had had this report, a serene discussion on the matter would have ensued, however the question of the weight charts, I do wish to underline this, is not the focus point in our paper. 

The purpose of the present letter is to clarify certain elements. We confirm that our analysis is adequate after having studied your report. Our pragmatic approach consisted in initiating our study on average experimental curves. Moreover, all the possible comparisons with MON 863 hybrids would not enable us to conclude: on the one hand the insecticide levels are not well characterized and they are different too (if the effects we have been observing are actually due to the insecticide). On the other hand, the various genetic modifications prevent us from drawing, because of the possible interactions, a definite conclusion on these results. Furthermore, no statistics as thorough as ours were ever produced for the hybrids.

Endocrine Disruptors (ED) are chemical substances, most of them synthetic, qualified as xenobiotics, and which can interfere with the synthesis, the storage, the transport within the organism, the metabolism, the fixing, the action or the elimination of hormones.

Reference of the article: Réflexions en Gynécologie-Osbétrique, Juin 2008, Tome 1 - n°2, p 56-59.

By Nora Benachour and Gilles-Eric Séralini - June 2008

The exposition of fœtuses to xenobiotic combinations coming from the motherly 

environment was proved, in the recent years, to have complex synergetic effects, as well as delayed effects…

Reference of the article: Réflexions en Gynécologie-Obstétrique, Juin 2008, Tome 1 - n°2, p 66-70.

NK603 - MON810 Study on Mice

An Austrian study has just been published. It is a laboratory report, of the same kind as those provided by Monsanto to the States, with a view to obtain GMO authorizations. It corresponds to the most detailed study ever conducted in the world on laboratory animals, i.e., mice eating commercialized GMOs over several generations. As this is sometimes done to study the secondary effects of pesticides and medicines before they are commercialized.

Monsanto reports that are much less detailed have been approved by numerous governments worldwide. In general they do not mention animal reproduction, and there are two types of experiments conducted: multi-generations (MGS), multi-litters (RACB) for the same parents. The second experiment seems to highlight more significant differences, but the first quoted sentence bears on MGS: “The production parameters average litter size and weight as well as number of weaned pups were in favour of the ISO group”. (That is to say in disfavour of the group treated with GMOs: ISO is the real control group, REF is another control with a non-transgenic maize which differs noticeably from the control and is not equivalent in substance). Such differences are also observed with the multi-litter experiment and they become statistically significant for the 3rd and 4th litters." There are also some effects on the kidneys as highlighted by CRIIGEN with MON863.

However this study was much debated, specifically since there were some calculation errors apparently and the authors went back on some of their results. It has now become quite difficult to untangle truthfulness and relevance in the details of that type of study, which nonetheless remains original and unique. Quoting this study is not even allowed! In this case,for a scientific study which is not published, nor peer-reviewed in a scientific journal with a reading panel, the limits are reached. Here is the very reason why the experimental references of CRIIGEN are always published. 

Also, a long-term experiment on adults could be found in this study. This confirms CRIIGEN’s suspicions of secondary effects with all commercialized GMOs.

Read the report

CRIIGEN APPEALS TO PUBLIC AUTHORITIES  - 6 July 2009 

Agricultural GMO developers and regulatory agencies have systematically neglected secondary effects of GMOs and pesticides. This was clearly demonstrated by the EFSA and the US FDA when each assessed the controversial GM maizes M0N863 and MON810 that produce artificial insecticides. The finding is contained in a study by eight international experts from three continents just published.

Regulatory tests conducted prior to commercial release analyse the blood of mammals that are fed GMOs. The length of these studies is generally dangerously short periods of exposure (3 months) and the number of animals tested is usually insufficient to determine safety.

However, when significant statistical results from these tests were observed that showed signs of toxicity, they were ignored and/or dismissed. Moreover, such effects are often judged to be of no importance if they are not similar in males and females, or do not show an increase with the dose of GMO fed to the animal. Such systematic bias results in a significant underestimation of initial signs of chronic diseases such as cancers, hormonal disruptions, immune, nervous or reproductive deficiencies, among others.

This is an inexcusable error in light of modern scientific knowledge. By endorsing techniques adopted by developers to mask statistically significant results, the authorities have demonstrated their inability to learn the lessons of past health scandals. In addition any regulatory study should be done long term by an independent body.

CRIIGEN calls on food safety regulators to immediately release the mammalian blood analyses and other such relevant safety data used to authorize GMOs and pesticides such as Roundup in the past. If they do not allow this information to be reviewed by independent third parties, they will become complicit if new health scandals arise involving prior approvals because they will have refused to allow the data to be independently evaluated when there is credible reason for doubt. Health scandals could arise more crucial than financial ones, at an international level, by transparency lack or too light controls in regulatory instances.

For details, see scientific paper published in June 2009 by Prof. Gilles-Eric Seralini et al. Int J Biol Sci 2009; 5:438-443. http://www.biolsci.org/v05p0438.htm For contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

http://www.biolsci.org/v05p0438.htm

Contact:  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Press release