sábado, 30 de novembro de 2013

Sepultando um zumbi? O artigo científico que nasceu morto, foi “ressuscitado” pela Food and Chemical Toxicology, morto pela comunidade científica, mantido como zumbi pela oposição aos transgênicos e outra vez morto, desta vez pela revista que lhe deu vida...

Está na hora de historiar brevemente a vida, a morte e a morte deste “Quincas Berro D´água” pseudo-científico. O trabalho de “pesquisa” do professor Séralini e de seu grupo era, desde sua concepção, uma armadilha, montada de cabo a rabo para “demonstrar” que milho transgênico e glifosato causavam câncer. Nenhuma revista séria deveria aceitar um artigo com a metodologia apresentada e, sobretudo, com as conclusões sacadas dos resultados. O que aconteceu?

Pois bem: a Food and Chemical Toxicology, considerada uma revista importante na área, mordeu a isca, provavelmente de olho na turbinagem de seu citation index, uma vez que era evidente a “sede por polêmica” na área de biossegurança de transgênicos. Depois de uma revisão por pares a revista aceitou o artigo para publicação. Séralini e seus camaradas lançaram a coisa na mídia, através de um acordo de confidencialidade com os jornalistas, que os impedia de consultar especialistas antes de divulgar a história. Com isso, um trabalho natimorto foi trazido à vida pela revista e lançado aos palcos do mundo pela mídia irresponsável.

Imediatamente a comunidade científica em peso gritou que aquilo era um morto-vivo, sem substância, um aborto científico disfarçado em artigo publicado; enfim, uma vergonha. Um punhado de cientistas, alinhados à oposição aos transgênicos, andou espantando as moscas que insistiam em rodar em volta do zumbi e a oposição divertiu-se em mostrá-lo de novo e de novo ao público, exposição repetida ad nauseam pelos blogueiros da internet desprovidos de espírito crítico. Instituições dos dois lados desta luta ideológica se empenharam em meter a estaca de carvalho no peito do zumbi ou, ao contrário, enfeitá-lo de roupagens reais e mostrá-lo como forte, sadio e, sobretudo, “independente”. Academias de ciência, agências de avaliação de risco, grupos de cientistas “do sistema”, inclusive representantes da maioria na CTNBio, esfaquearam o morto-vivo. Curando as feridas estiveram os reanimadores, representados pelo IDEC, pelo CONSEA, pela AS-PTA e por uma minoria de membros da própria CTNBio (as duas listas não se esgotam com estes exemplos, por certo).

Esta dança macabra continuou por mais de um ano e, quando estava esfriando, mais por cansaço do que pela vitória de qualquer um dos lados, surge a retratação da revista no final de novembro de 2013 (http://genpeace.blogspot.com.br/2013/11/finalmente-revista-se-retrata-e-vai.html). Esta retratação era esperada e veio, também como esperado, como um vento que empurrou o morto-vivo para uma última sarabanda antes de mergulhar no esquecimento. Seria igualzinha à tempestade que, balançando o saveiro, mergulhou Quincas Berro D´água nas águas noturnas da baía de Todos os Santos. Será? Irá o corpo ao fundo e será devorado pelos peixes, ou boiará de volta e será trazido à praia para, mais uma vez, voltar aos bares e aos saveiros?

Há vários fatores em jogo quanto ao futuro do zumbi, que dependem da pouca intensidade da tempestade (as alegações do editor são uma piada de mau gosto, quase tão ruim quanto a aceitação do artigo, há mais de um ano atrás), da fome dos peixes na baía (a ciência oficial vai aplaudir, mas não vai arrastar nem a revista nem seus autores pelas pedras, para lhes tirar as tripas e devorar tudo), da vocação ressureicionista dos que esperam o corpo boiar (a oposição aos transgênicos me parece cansada de defender o bufão Séralini e outros palhaços de plantão) e das conjunções astrais.

Ofereço aos leitores uma lista de links para blogs anteriores que falam deste imbróglio.

O artigo do Séralini é um cavalo morto? Deveria ser, mas hoje ele virou um zumbi, ressuscitado aqui e acolá pela oposição mais teimosa aos OGMs - http://genpeace.blogspot.com.br/2013/09/o-artigo-do-seralini-e-um-cavalo-morto.html. Esta postegem refuta uma “lista de dez pontos” que pretensamente mostraria a validade das conclusões e da metodologia do Séralini e sua estreita relação com as metodologias e conclusões.

Séralini, o bufão dos transgênicos: como usar recursos públicos, os pares em ciência e a mídia para vender experimento feito na medida para provar hipótese errada - http://genpeace.blogspot.com.br/2012/10/seralini-o-bufao-dos-transgenicos-como.html. Nesta postagem escancara-se a falta de ética e as ligações perigosas do Séralini com as grandes redes de supermercado.

Brazil officially rejects Séralini´s results – no risk assessment revision is being suggested for NK603 maize. http://genpeace.blogspot.com.br/2012/10/brazil-officially-rejects-seralinis.html. A postagem recapitula o posicionamento oficial da CTNBio.

Outros links que recapitulam muito deste imbroglio.




quinta-feira, 28 de novembro de 2013

Finalmente revista se retrata e vai retirar o artigo de Séralini e cols de 2012 - acabaram os ratos com tumor devido a milho transgênico ou glifosato?

Ratos com tumor depois de comer milho transgênico ou beber água contaminada com glifosato. Todos viram as horrendas fotos publicadas pelos jornais franceses mesmo antes da publicação do artigo pela Food and Chemical Toxicology. Alguns devem também ter visto o filme.

Saltava aos olhos, mesmo de um pesquisador novato, que havia algo de errado na metodologia: como é que ninguém havia visto nada parecido? Os tumores já apareciam com 4 meses de experimento e iam se agravando até que os ratos morriam cheios deles. Uma barbaridade. Não foi preciso esperar dois anos para ver os tumores e experimentos com 90, 120, 180 dias ou um ano abundam na literatura, mostrando que os milhos GM até hoje no mercado são seguros. Também para o glifosato, dezenas de artigos mostravam ausência de impactos importantes na saúde. Como conciliar estes resultados com a bomba midiática do Séralini?

Desde o início denunciamos neste site: o artigo não presta. Matamos a cobra e mostramos o pau, evidenciando suas fraquezas. Linkamos muitos outros sites e referências que também denunciavam o mesmo. Os "independentes", entretanto, continuaram defendendo Séralini e esta paródia de artigo. Agora a revista vai retirar o artigo, se o Séralini e seus colaboradores não o fizerem.Os termos da revista são, por sua vez, muito brandos e isso vai custar ao editor e à credibilidade da revista um bocado. Esperávamos todos que a revista baixasse o sarrafo no artigo, mesmo às custas de entregar de bandeja seu mau sistema de revisão por pares.

Isso acalma a polêmica? Mures requiescat in pace... De jeito nenhum! Não tenho bola de cristal, mas posso prever que os "independentes" acusarão a revista de ter cedido à pressão da Monsanto, entre outras hipóteses fantasiosas. Basta ver o que já circula pela internet, poucas horas depois que saiu a notícia.

Vai abaixo o texto saído em retractionwatch.com
Paulo Andrade

PS. Como esperado, Séralini e seus parceiros de luta já fizeram uma Press conference relâmpago, cujo conteúdo foi garimpado e repassado pela Lúcia de Souza para mim. Lá vai:

This morning MEP Lepage andSeralini cum suis organised an ‘Urgent Press Conference - Exclusive And Urgent Revelation Of A Science-Industry Link Endangering Public Health On A Main Pesticide And Its Tolerant GMO’.
As Seralini announced, the press conference was organised in haste, because he had received a letter from the Editor of the Food and Chemical Toxicology review informing him that they will withdraw his paper this Friday or next Monday.
The press conference was attended by 10 people, of which it is not clear how many journalists there were,  
I paste some poignant points from the press conference below.
 Some points from the Seralini/Lepage press conference.
Seralini cs hired a US law firm to get compensation for the consequences of the withdrawal of the article. Claim is journals  can withdraw a paper only in case of fraud or error – both are of course denied by Seralini, who said that he received letters of support from the European editor of the review, Mr. Domingo.
·        Lepage made a call to action at the end of the press conf:
o   For all scientists to take action against the pressure of lobby groups within editing boards of scientific reviews – the name of Richard Goodman, a former Monsanto employee now working for the Food and Chemical Toxicology review, was mentioned several times.
o   For all consumer and civil society organisations to fight against the monopoly of lobby groups on foodsupply.
o   To put an end to the tendency to nominate at high level positions people who have ties with industry: she and the others heavily criticized Anne Glover and other people from the GMO panel at EFSA, as well as Mella Frewen, FoodDrinkEurope and former Monsanto employee.
o   Call on the Council to vote on the nationalisation proposal, saying that this should be done before the TTIP is concluded.
Seralini said that Monsanto rat studies were flawed because he conducted an experiment that showed that rats used for control groups showed levels of GM and pesticide residues, which according to him, explains why there are tumors in both the control and experiment groups.
Paul DEHEUVELS, who presented himself as the only statistician in the French Science Academy, announced an upcoming publication of his hand backs Seralini’s statistics on the feeding study. It will be published in Dec 2013 or Jan 2014 in a review called Statistical Models and Methods for Reliability and Survival Analysis (ISTE).
The GRACE project was mentioned in the context of a whole explanation of how research is influenced by industry.
Lepage said it’s good news that some organisations (FR food safety body Anses) recognized the need to conduct long term feeding studies but it will take time before anything comes out (3-4 years)
EFSA was the centre of all criticism having expressed a “remarkably unscientific argument” on the Seralini study
DEHEUVELS said he worked for Sanofi in the past as consultant. He drew a parallel between the cost of drugs to put a product on the market and GMOs, saying that biotech companies should do thesame as drug companies to ensure that all data on safety are there before putting their products on the market.
Joel SPIROUX (CRIIGEN) briefly mentioned IP and trade secrets describing them as “a scandal that everyone, incl. children are paying the price of”.




Tracking retractions as a window into the scientific process
Controversial Seralini GMO-rats paper to be retracted
A heavily criticized study of the effects of genetically modified maize and the Roundup herbicide on rats is being retracted — one way or another.
The paper — by Gilles Seralini and colleagues — was published in Food and Chemical Toxicology last year. There have been calls for retraction since then, along with other criticism and a lengthy exchange of letters in the journal. Meanwhile, the paper has been cited 28 times, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge, and the French National Assembly (their lower house of Parliament) held a long hearing on the paper last year, with Seralini and other scientists testifying.
Now, as reported in the French media, the editor of the journal, A. Wallace Hayes, has sent Seralini a letter saying that the paper will be retracted if Seralini does not agree to withdraw it.
Here’s most of the November 19 letter, including Hayes’ proposed retraction notice:
The panel had many concerns about the quality of the data, and ultimately recommended that the article should be withdrawn. I have been trying to get in touch with you to discuss the specific reasons behind this recommendation. If you do not agree to withdraw the article, it will be retracted, and the following statement will be published it its place:
The journal Food and Chemical Toxicology retracts the article “Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize,”1 which was published in this journal in November 2012. This retraction comes after a thorough and time-consuming analysis of the published article and the data it reports, along with an investigation into the peer-review behind the article. The Editor in-Chief deferred making any public statements regarding this article until this investigation was complete, and the authors were notified of the findings.
Very shortly after the publication of this article, the journal received Letters to the Editor expressing concerns about the validity of the findings it described, the proper use of animals, and even allegations of fraud. Many of these letters called upon the editors of the journal to retract the paper. According to the journal’s standard practice, these letters, as well as the letters in support of the findings, were published along with a response from the authors. Due to the nature of the concerns raised about this paper, the Editor-in-Chief examined all aspects of the peer review process and requested permission from the corresponding author to review the raw data. The request to view raw data is not often made; however, it is in accordance with the journal’s policy that authors of submitted manuscripts must be willing to provide the original data if so requested. The corresponding author agreed and supplied all material that was requested by the Editor-in-Chief. The Editor-in-Chief wishes to acknowledge the co-operation of the corresponding author in this matter, and commends him for his commitment to the scientific process.
Unequivocally, the Editor-in-Chief found no evidence of fraud or intentional misrepresentation of the data. However, there is legitimate cause for concern regarding both the number of animals in each study group and the particular strain selected. The low number of animals had been identified as a cause for concern during the initial review process, but the peer-review decision ultimately weighed that the work still had merit despite this limitation. A more in-depth look at the raw data revealed that no definitive conclusions can be reached with this small sample size regarding the role of either NK603 or glyphosate in regards to overall mortality or tumor incidence. Given the known high incidence of tumors in the Sprague-Dawley rat, normal variability cannot be excluded as the cause of the higher mortality and incidence observed in the treated groups.
Ultimately, the results presented (while not incorrect) are inconclusive, and therefore do not reach the threshold of publication for Food and Chemical Toxicology. The peer-review process is not perfect, but it does work. The journal is committed to a fair, thorough, and timely peer-review process; sometimes expediency might be sacrificed in order to be as thorough as possible. The time-consuming nature is, at times, required in fairness to both the authors and readers. Likewise, the Letters to the Editor, both pro and con, serve as a post-publication peer review. The back and forth between the readers and the author has a useful and valuable place in our scientific dialog.
The Editor-in-Chief again commends the corresponding author for his willingness and openness in participating in this dialog. The retraction is only on the inconclusiveness of this one paper. The journal’s editorial policy will continue to review all manuscripts no matter how controversial they may be. The editorial board will continue to use this case as a reminder to be as diligent as possible in the peer-review process.
Seralini — whom, as we note, tried to get reporters to sign a non-disclosure agreement when the study was first being released, a move Ivan called an outrageous abuse of the embargo system designed to turn reporters into stenographers — rejected Hayes’ findings, according to Le Figaro. And GMWatch called Hayes’ decision “illicit, unscientific, and unethical.”
There’s a lot to chew on here:
1.      Our read is that Hayes is basically saying that while the paper doesn’t meet the usual criteria for retraction, it should never have been published in the first place. This will likely be quite controversial, and it will be interesting to see how the scientific community reacts. Based on comments here at Retraction Watch, many scientists say that retraction should be reserved for fraud and serious error. Does that hold for a paper that many criticized as deeply flawed — and which challenged GMOs, whose use is supported by many scientists?
2.      Hayes is also saying that expedience is never an excuse for rushing a paper through peer review, no matter how controversial the subject. (Contrast Hayes’ comments with those by the editor of another Elsevier journal, Cell, earlier this year: “It is a misrepresentation to equate slow peer review with thoroughness or rigor or to use timely peer review as a justification for sloppiness in manuscript preparation.”)
3.      Post-publication peer-review — something we’ve championed for a while — is really important.