The largest “experiment” with human beings and livestock, ever! Contrary to the alarmists´ opinions, GM food seems to be very safe

Séralini and his group continue to feed us with low quality science: their last paper “undoubtedly” demonstrated that rats fed transgenic maize (event NK603, expressing the gene for the EPSPS protein (the monomeric enzyme 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase that renders the plant tolerant to the herbicide glyphosate) quickly develop large tumors all over the body. Many other long term studies were performed with GMO feed and nothing similar was ever observed 
(Snell et al, 2012 - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278691511006399 and https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B_W2c-uzSPBvam84TWhLXzFYUXc/edit, See also http://skepticink.com/smilodonsretreat/2012/10/24/a-survey-of-long-term-gm-food-studies/). Why?

Well, after being thoroughly evaluated by many risk assessors in biosafety agencies all over the World, the maize event NK603 and many others expressing the same protein in maize were allowed to be used as food or feed. As shown in Table I below, glyphosate-tolerant GM corn started its commercial life more than 15 years ago and reached many countries, where it was consumed as food or feed. The single event NK603 was very successful and was adopted both “as it is” or as a component of different stacked events. Many million animals were fed with GM corn expressing EPSPS and possibly also many million human beings. The rate of adoption of GM corn in many large crop-producing countries is now well above 80% and it is possible that a large part of all commercial corn is now GM.

Table I: GM Maize expressing EPSPS (glyphosate-tolerant corn). Source: http://www.cera-gmc.org/?action=gm_crop_database

Zea mays L.  Maize

Event	Company	Description	Ist year of approval	!st country of approval	Total countries
BT11 x GA21	Syngenta Seeds, Inc.	Stacked insect resistant and herbicide tolerant maize produced by conventional cross breeding of parental lines BT11 (OECD unique identifier: SYN-BTO11-1) and GA21 (OECD unique identifier: MON-OOO21-9).	2005	Canada	9
BT11 x MIR162 x MIR604 x GA21	Syngenta Seeds, Inc.	Resistance to coleopteran pests, particularly corn rootworm pests (Diabrotica spp.) and several lepidopteran pests of corn, including European corn borer (ECB, Ostrinia nubilalis), corn earworm (CEW, Helicoverpa zea), fall army worm (FAW, Spodoptera frugiperda), and black cutworm (BCW,Agrotis ipsilon); tolerance to glyphosate and glufosinate-ammonium containing herbicides.	2012	Colombia	1
BT11 x MIR604 x GA21	Syngenta Seeds, Inc.	Stacked insect resistant and herbicide tolerant maize produced by conventional cross breeding of parental lines BT11 (OECD unique identifier: SYN-BTO11-1), MIR604 (OECD unique identifier: SYN-IR6O5-5) and GA21 (OECD unique identifier: MON-OOO21-9). Resistance to the European Corn Borer and tolerance to the herbicide glufosinate ammonium (Liberty) is derived from BT11, which contains the cry1Ab gene fromBacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki, and the phosphinothricin N-acetyltransferase (PAT) encoding gene from S. viridochromogenes. Corn rootworm-resistance is derived from MIR604 which contains the mcry3A gene from Bacillus thuringiensis. Tolerance to glyphosate herbcicide is derived from GA21 which contains a a modified EPSPS gene from maize.	2007	Canada	5
DAS-59122-7 x NK603	DOW AgroSciences LLC and Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc.	Stacked insect resistant and herbicide tolerant maize produced by conventional cross breeding of parental lines DAS-59122-7 (OECD unique identifier: DAS-59122-7) with NK603 (OECD unique identifier: MON-OO6O3-6). Corn rootworm-resistance is derived from DAS-59122-7 which contains the cry34Ab1and cry35Ab1 genes from Bacillus thuringiensis strain PS149B1. Tolerance to glyphosate herbcicide is derived from NK603.	2005	Canada	6
DAS-59122-7 x TC1507 x NK603	DOW AgroSciences LLC and Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc.	Stacked insect resistant and herbicide tolerant maize produced by conventional cross breeding of parental lines DAS-59122-7 (OECD unique identifier: DAS-59122-7) and TC1507 (OECD unique identifier: DAS-O15O7-1) with NK603 (OECD unique identifier: MON-OO6O3-6). Corn rootworm-resistance is derived from DAS-59122-7 which contains the cry34Ab1 and cry35Ab1 genes from Bacillus thuringiensis strain PS149B1. Lepidopteran resistance and tolerance to glufosinate ammonium herbicide is derived from TC1507. Tolerance to glyphosate herbcicide is derived from NK603.	2006	Canada	6
GA21	Syngenta Seeds, Inc. (formerly Zeneca Seeds)	Introduction, by particle bombardment, of a modified 5-enolpyruvyl shikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS), an enzyme involved in the shikimate biochemical pathway for the production of the aromatic amino acids.	1996	USA	16
GA21 x MON810	Monsanto Company	Stacked insect resistant and herbicide tolerant corn hybrid derived from conventional cross-breeding of the parental lines GA21 (OECD identifier: MON-OOO21-9) and MON810 (OECD identifier: MON-OO81O-6).	2003	S. Africa	5
MIR604 x GA21	Syngenta Seeds, Inc.	Stacked insect resistant and herbicide tolerant maize produced by conventional cross breeding of parental lines MIR604 (OECD unique identifier: SYN-IR6O5-5) and GA21 (OECD unique identifier: MON-OOO21-9). Corn rootworm-resistance is derived from MIR604 which contains the mcry3A gene from Bacillus thuringiensis. Tolerance to glyphosate herbicide is derived from GA21.	2007	Philippines	4
MON80100	Monsanto Company	Insect-resistant maize produced by inserting the cry1Ab gene from Bacillus thuringiensissubsp. kurstaki. The genetic modification affords resistance to attack by the European corn borer (ECB).	1995	USA	1
MON802	Monsanto Company	Insect-resistant and glyphosate herbicide tolerant maize produced by inserting the genes encoding the Cry1Ab protein fromBacillus thuringiensis and the 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) from A. tumefaciens strain CP4.	1996	USA	3
MON809	Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc.	Resistance to European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis) by introduction of a synthetic cry1Ab gene. Glyphosate resistance via introduction of the bacterial version of a plant enzyme, 5-enolpyruvyl shikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS).	1996	USA	3
MON810 x MON88017	Monsanto Company	Stacked insect resistant and glyphosate tolerant maize derived from conventional cross-breeding of the parental lines MON810 (OECD identifier: MON-OO81O-6) and MON88017 (OECD identifier:MON-88O17-3). European corn borer (ECB) resistance is derived from a truncated form of the cry1Abgene from Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki HD-1 present in MON810. Corn rootworm resistance is derived from thecry3Bb1 gene from Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies kumamotoensis strain EG4691 present in MON88017. Glyphosate tolerance is derived from a 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) encoding gene from Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain CP4 present in MON88017.	2006	Canada	7
MON832	Monsanto Company	Introduction, by particle bombardment, of glyphosate oxidase (GOX) and a modified 5-enolpyruvyl shikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS), an enzyme involved in the shikimate biochemical pathway for the production of the aromatic amino acids.	1997	Canada	1
MON863 x MON810 x NK603	Monsanto Company	Stacked insect resistant and herbicide tolerant corn hybrid derived from conventional cross-breeding of the stacked hybrid MON-OO863-5 x MON-OO81O-6 and NK603 (OECD identifier:MON-OO6O3-6).	2004	Canada	6
MON863 x NK603	Monsanto Company	Stacked insect resistant and herbicide tolerant corn hybrid derived from conventional cross-breeding of the parental lines MON863 (OECD identifier:MON-OO863-5) and NK603 (OECD identifier: MON-OO6O3-6).	2004	Philippines	6
MON88017	Monsanto Company	Corn rootworm-resistant maize produced by inserting the cry3Bb1 gene from Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies kumamotoensis strain EG4691. Glyphosate tolerance derived by inserting a 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) encoding gene from Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain CP4.	2005	USA	12
MON89034 x MON88017	Monsanto Company	Stacked insect resistant and glyphosate tolerant maize derived from conventional cross-breeding of the parental lines MON89034 (OECD identifier: MON-89O34-3) and MON88017 (OECD identifier:MON-88O17-3). Resistance to Lepiopteran insects is derived from two cry genes present in MON89043. Corn rootworm resistance is derived from a single cry genes and glyphosate tolerance is derived from the 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) encoding gene from Agrobacterium tumefaciens present in MON88017.	2008	Japan	7
MON89034 x NK603	Monsanto Company	Stacked insect resistant and herbicide tolerant maize produced by conventional cross breeding of parental lines MON89034 (OECD identifier: MON-89O34-3) with NK603 (OECD unique identifier: MON-OO6O3-6). Resistance to Lepiopteran insects is derived from two crygenes present in MON89043. Tolerance to glyphosate herbcicide is derived from NK603.	2008	Japan	6
MON89034 x TC1507 x MON88017 x DAS-59122-7	Monsanto Company and Mycogen Seeds c/o Dow AgroSciences LLC	Stacked insect resistant and herbicide tolerant maize produced by conventional cross breeding of parental lines: MON89034, TC1507, MON88017, and DAS-59122. Resistance to the above-ground and below-ground insect pests and tolerance to glyphosate and glufosinate-ammonium containing herbicides.	2009	Canada	8
NK603	Monsanto Company	Introduction, by particle bombardment, of a modified 5-enolpyruvyl shikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS), an enzyme involved in the shikimate biochemical pathway for the production of the aromatic amino acids.	2000	USA	16
NK603 x MON810	Monsanto Company	Stacked insect resistant and herbicide tolerant corn hybrid derived from conventional cross-breeding of the parental lines NK603 (OECD identifier: MON-OO6O3-6) and MON810 (OECD identifier: MON-OO81O-6).	2001	Canada	13
NK603 x T25	Monsanto Company	Stacked glufosinate ammonium and glyphosate herbicide tolerant maize hybrid derived from conventional cross-breeding of the parental lines NK603 (OECD identifier: MON-OO6O3-6) and T25 (OECD identifier: ACS-ZM003-2).	2010	Japan	1
TC1507 x NK603	DOW AgroSciences LLC	Stacked insect resistant and herbicide tolerant corn hybrid derived from conventional cross-breeding of the parental lines 1507 (OECD identifier: DAS-O15O7-1) and NK603 (OECD identifier: MON-OO6O3-6).	2004	Mexico	9

As shown in Table II, NK603 was first approved in USA back in the year 2000. It was rapidly approved (and adopted as one of the most used GM corn events) in Canada, South Africa, Mexico, China and Argentina. It is not easy to figure how many million livestock animals were fed specifically with this corn, but surely the numbers are very large. Moreover, hogs and cattle are normally fed corn and live for much longer periods than rats. During their lives (keep in mind they are slaughtered well before senescence) they never developed tumors due to the use of transgenic corn in their feed formulation. Human beings also ate this very same corn and continue to eat, without a single report of health problem.

Table II - Summary of Regulatory Approvals for Maize NK603

Country	Environment	Food and/or Feed	Food	Feed
Argentina	2004	2004
Australia			2002
Brazil	2008	2008
Canada	2001		2001	2001
China		2005
Colombia			2004
El Salvador		2009
European Union			2004	2004
Japan	2001		2001	2001
Korea			2002	2004
Mexico		2002
Philippines	2005			2003
South Africa	2002	2002
Taiwan			2003
United States	2000	2000
Uruguay	2011	2011

Truly, the commercialization of these corn varieties was no “experiment”: risk agencies were very much sure (and are still) that they were as safe as their no transformed counterpart. But, as far as results are concerned, the use of these events as food and feed constitutes the most eloquent proof that they are safe. The same conclusion can be reached for almost every GM plant now in the market.

So, what was the problem with Séralini´s experiments? They used a rat line that quickly and spontaneously develop tumors after six months of live in the lab, eating ad libitum. This was well known and Séralini possibly chose these animals in the hope to get more tumors using GM corn than with regular corn. But to do this is HIGHLY anti-scientific and a serious distortion of an experimental design, because many other factors, rather out of the researcher´s control, also play a role. Moreover, his data are so poorly presented and his statistics are so inappropriate that it is completely impossible to draw any conclusion from his paper.

In conclusion, his isolated results are in complete opposition to all other previously published results and, most importantly, to real life.