"What Pusztai and his team found was quite a shock. First, the nutritional content of some GM potatoes were considerably different from their non-GM parent lines, even though they were grown in identical conditions. One GM potato line, for example, contained 20 % less protein that its own parent line. Second, even the nutritional content of sibling GM potatoes, offspring of the same parent grown in identical conditions, was significantly different.

If Pusztai’s results were limited to just these facts, they alone might have undermined the entire regulatory process of GM foods. FDA policy was based on the assumption that genetically modified foods were stable. Nutrient levels were not supposed to vary.

But these findings were completely eclipsed by Pusztai’s other, more disturbing discoveries. He found that rats which were fed GM potatoes suffered damaged immune systems. Their white blood cells responded much more sluggishly than those fed a non-GM diet, leaving them more vulnerable to infection and disease. Organs related to the immune system, the thymus and spleen, showed some damage as well.

Compared to rats fed a non-GM control diet, some of the GM fed rats had smaller, less developed brains, livers, and testicles. Other rats had enlarged tissues, including the pancreas and intestines. Some showed partial atrophy of the liver. What’s more, significant structural changes and a proliferation of cells in the stomach and intestines of GM-fed rats may have signaled an increased potential for cancer.

The rats developed these serious health effects after only ten days. Some of these changes persisted after 110 days, a time period corresponding to about 10 years of human life.

In preparing the diet, Pusztai had been characteristically thorough. Comparisons had been made between rats fed GM pototates, natural potatoes, and natural potatoes spiked with the same amount of pure lectin as found in the GM potato. The researchers varied the potato preparation, using raw, boiled and baked potatoes, and varied the amounts in the diet. They also varied the total protein content of the diets and tested all these variations over both 10 day and 110-day periods. These testing protocols had all been thoroughly scrutinized and approved in advance by the government’s funding office and were consistent with several published studies.

In the end only the rats that ate the GM potatoes suffered the serious negative effects. From the evidence, it was clear that the lectins were not the major cause of the health damage. Rather, there was some effect from the process of genetic engineering itself that caused the damaged organs and immune dysfunction of the adolescent rats. "We used exactly the same methods of genetic engineering as used by the food companies," says Pusztai.

Pusztai knew that his results strongly suggested that the GM foods already approved and being eaten by hundreds of millions of people every day might be creating similar health problems in people, especially in children. (pg 12)

"… I find it is very, very unfair to use our fellow citizens as guinea pigs. We have to find the guinea pigs in the laboratory." (pg 15)

"The next day the Pusztais came to work encouraged that the truth would finally get out. When they were called to a meeting, Arpad Pusztai expected to be handed the corrected release for review. But when he entered the room, the whole top management was assembled. Professor James spoke in a manner that was quite different from that of the previous day. In fact, the Pusztais had never heard him speak that way before.

He said I was to be suspended, and they will have an audit of the whole business, and then I shall be made to retire, recounts Pusztai. And my retiring wasn’t dependent on what the audit found." pg 18

"James did not act alone. He handpicked a panel of scientists to conduct an audit of Pusztai’s work. It was quite telling that the scientists he selected were not working nutritionists. "That a nutritional institute should select non-nutritionists to do this audit is quite unbelievable," says Pusztai. Moreover, the panel was not given the complete data, did their entire review in less than a day, and didn’t consult with Pusztai at all.

A summary of their audit report was released on October 28. It claimed that there were important deficiencies in Pusztai’s study. The full audit report, however, was never publicly released. To prevent leaks, only ten copies were printed. Even the chairman of the panel that produced the report was not given a copy." pg 22

"A report published two days later exposed the fact that Monsanto had given the Rowett Institute 140,000pounds before the blow-up, adding even more fuel to the media’s fire." pg 23

"A lot of energy was being spent attacking and defending viewpints. Very little energy was spent on safety testing.

It would have been fairly straightforward to conduct a follow-up study on Pusztai’s research to find out, for example, if any of the GM products we were eating create similar organ or immune system problems. But, having seen what happened to Pusztai, no one was willing to go there.

The British government clearly wasn‘t. According to one observer from the UK‘s Natural Law Party, the reason the government had commissioned the research team from the Rowett Institute " in the first place was that it was convinced that it would come up with a favorable result in relation to the safety of the GM potatoes… In fact, after Pusztai‘s unexpected discovery, the British government ended all funding in safety testing." pg 33

"According to a March 2001 article in the New York Times, "The CDC (Centre for Disease Control) now says that food is responsible for twice the number of illnesses in the United States as scientists thought just seven years ago... At least 80% of food-related illnesses are caused by viruses or other pathogens that scientists cannot even identify." The reported cases include 5,000 deaths, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 76 million illnesses per year. This increase roughly corresponds to the period when Americans have been eating GM food. In addition, obesity has skyrocketed. In 1990, no state had 15% or more of its population in the obese category. By 2001, only one state didn't. Diabetes rose by 33% from 1990 to 1998, lyphatic cancers are up, and many other illnesses are on the rise. Is there a connection to GM foods? We have no way of knowing because no one has looked for one.

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EXCERPT from an interview with Dr. Mae-Wan Ho, Director of the Institute of Science in Society, by Anastasia Stephens of the Evening Standard (interview in full here)

AS: Are the anti-GM brigade anything more than a bunch of conspiracy theorists?

MWH: There is no "anti-GM brigade". There are ordinary citizens angry at the lies they've been told, and the undemocratic way in which GM crops are foisted on them. There are angry farmers who will be out of business once their crops are contaminated by GM genes. There are scientists incensed at the abuse of science that has allowed GM crops to be approved, which have all the signs of being unsafe.

There is no "anti-GM brigade"; on the contrary, there is a distinct pro-GM brigade that will stop at nothing to promote the corporate agenda. They've infiltrated the science-media establishment and the government, and using smear tactics borrowed from America's far-right to try to discredit and silence all critics.

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Other references can be found:  http://www.biotech-info.net/new.html

*Genetically Modified Foods: Are They a Risk to Human/Animal Health? by Arpad Pusztai, Ph.D., An actionbioscience.org original article

*Science as Culture (draft) The Pusztai Controversy: editorial introduction, October 7, 2001

*Submission by Stanley Ewen (M.B.Ch.B., Ph.D., F.R.C.Path) to the Health Committee of the Scottish Parliment in response to their investigation into the health impact of GM crops.

*Submission of evidence to the Clerk to the Health and Community Care Committee of  The Scottish Parliament from Dr. Árpád Pusztai's Submission to the Scottish Parliment

*Can Science Give Use the Tools for Recognizing Possible Health Risks From GM Foods? by Dr. Arpad Pusztai, in Nutrition and Health, 2002, Volume 16, pp. 73-84

*Dr. Pusztai's PowerPoint Presentation: GM FOOD/FEED: GAPS IN RISK-ASSOCIATED RESEARCH THAT NEED TO BE FILLED, presented at the Denver Conference