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in organ sizes, differences in overall weight, differences in the levels of enzymes, and
morphological and histological differences in cells of specific tissue, and others.13 A few
general observations can be made about these studies: (a) the observations often differ
from those reported in other similar published studies (which are often not cited by the
study authors), (b) they do not follow internationally accepted protocols, (c) diets fed to
the animals are not equivalent (food or feed not cultivated under equivalent controlled
conditions, different varieties compared, no composition analysis reported, feed intake
dissimilar between groups, etc.), (d) too few animals are studied and/or inappropriate
statistical tests applied, and (e) researchers confuse normal biological variation with
harmful effects. Widespread criticism by the scientific community and the subsequent
publication of papers that point out the shortcomings of these papers leads this author—
and likely many other scientists—to the conclusion that these studies should have
been rejected by peer-reviewers and should not have been published (see for example
Media and Manipulation: An
Illustrative Case Analysis
The previous section illustrated how flawed studies frequently influence both the media
and the food consumer. One recent case demonstrates the politics of this phenome-
non more clearly and raises the ethical question concretely. In September 2012, French
microbiologist Gilles-Eric Séralini, who has vocally opposed transgenic crops and the
herbicide Roundup
TM
,14 held a press conference for selected members of the press to
announce the results of his latest study (Séralini et al., 2012). He claimed that consump-
tion of GM herbicide-tolerant maize and Roundup
TM
, caused tumors and premature
deaths in rats. He presented color pictures of rats with grotesque tumors to emphasize
his point. The electronic and print media quickly broadcast the findings as well as the
grotesque photos and the news quickly spread around the globe. Professor Séralini also
took the unusual step of requiring reporters to sign nondisclosure agreements before
the press conference so that the reporters could not consult experts for fact checking
prior to rushing to print the shocking results he reported. Séralini also used the occasion
to announce the publication of his book
Tous cobayes
? (
Are we all guinea pigs?
); he pro-
vided a link to a YouTube video with the same title.
There can be little doubt that the orchestrated media event was part of a carefully laid
plan to help discredit transgenic crops produced using modern biotechnology and the
chemicals used with them. Séralini has a long history of opposition to them and has
published a series of widely criticized papers on the harmful effects of transgenic crops
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