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Six months ago Dr. Pusztai voiced his concern in a TV programme that
present testing procedures to establish the safety of foodstuffs containing genetically
modified (GM) material may not be adequate. Two days later he was suspended by the Rowett
Research Institute, Aberdeen, for being responsible for the release of misleading
information, gagged and threatened by legal action if he spoke out in his own defence. All
his scientific data were confiscated and, to establish whether or not he had committed
fraud, an Audit Committee was set up. Its remit was to investigate whether, as Dr. Pusztai
claimed, the growth and immune responsiveness of rats fed diets containing GM potatoes was
depressed. Regrettably, although a Report was written on the conclusion made by the Audit
Committee, this has only been discussed by selected people in line with the Rowett's
original intention that "these new findings will not be released by the Institute but
will be scrutinized by collaborating groups of scientists and official expert
committees". Unfortunately, neither the results of the GM research nor of the Audit
have been fully revealed. Instead, several months later the Rowett published a summary of
the conclusions of the Audit Report which stated unequivocally that Dr. Pusztai's
conclusions were not justified by his experimental data.
Those of us who have known Dr. Pusztai's work or have collaborated with
him, were shocked by the harshness of his treatment by the Rowett and even more by the
impenetrable secrecy surrounding these events. It is an unacceptable code of practice by
the Rowett and its Director, Professor James, to set themselves up as arbiters or judges
of the validity of data which could have such a profound importance not only for
scientists, but also for the public and its health. Fortunately, to comply with the Audit
rules, the Rowett had to return Dr. Pusztai's data and give him the right to comment on
the Audit Report. Although the results included in this report appeared to be arbitrarily
selected and biased towards brushing aside the conclusions of his experimental findings,
the data contained within the Audit Report itself nevertheless showed very clearly that
the transgenic GNA-potato had significant effects on immune function and this alone is
sufficient to vindicate entirely Dr. Pusztai's statements. Dr. Pusztai decided to make his
response to the Director of the Rowett and SOAEFDS (Scottish Office, who funded the
project) in the form of an Alternative Report. However, the existence of his Report has
never been acknowledged. In the interest of transparency and to follow the tradition of
scientific exchange of views and data between scientists, and to peer-review his findings
before publication, a number of independent scientists approached Dr. Pusztai with the
view to study his results in detail and have given us their written reviews.
The independent scientists who have reviewed Dr. Pusztai's data and
case, and who agreed with the content of this Memorandum, are:
Prof. K. Baintner, Department of Physiology, Pannon Agricultural University,
Kaposvar, Hungary
Prof. J. Cummins, Emeritus Prof. Genetics, Ontario, Canada
Dr. S.W.B. Ewen, Department of Pathology, Aberdeen Royal Hospitals, Aberdeen,
Scotland, UK
Prof. R. Finn, Department of Medicine, The University of Liverpool, United
Kingdom
Dr. M.F. Fuller, Stony Brook, New York, USA
Prof. B.C. Goodwin, Schumacher College, Dartington, Devon, United Kingdom
Dr. J. Hoppichler, Federal Institute for Less-Favoured and Mountainous Areas,
Vienna, Austria
Dr. C.V. Howard, Fetal and Infant Toxico-Pathology, The University of Liverpool,
United Kingdom
Dr. J. Koninkx, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine,
University of Utrecht, The Netherlands
Prof. A. Krogdahl, Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, Oslo, Norway
Dr. K. Lough, Bankhead, Aberdeen, Scotland (formerly of the Rowett Research
Institute, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK)
PD. Dr. D. Mayer, Heidelberg, Germany
Prof. F.V. Nekrep, Biotechnical Faculty, Zootechnical Department, University of
Ljubljana, Slovenija
Prof. S. Pierzynowski, Department of Animal Physiology, University of Lund,
Sweden
Prof. S. Pongor, Protein Structure and Function Group, International Centre for
Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Trieste, Italy
Prof. I. Pryme, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of
Bergen, Norway
Prof. J. Rhodes, Gastroenterology Research Group, The University of Liverpool,
United Kingdom
Dr. L. Rubio, Department of Animal Nutrition, Estacion Experimental del Zaidin,
Granada, Spain
Prof. M. Sajgo, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Godollo University of
Agriculture, Hungary
Prof. U. Schumacher, Department of Neuroanatomy, University of Hamburg, Germany
Dr. B. Tappeser, Institute for Applied Ecology, Freiburg, Germany
The reviews written by these scientists allowed us to compare the
conclusions of both the Audit and the Alternative Reports and to establish the validity of
Dr. Pusztai's claims. No data will be given here but, as in any referee's report, we give
our summary assessment and conclude that the data would be acceptable for scientific
papers. In light of the personal harm done to Dr. Pusztai we conclude also that it is
imperative to make available the reviews as well as our conclusion to the public, either
as publications in scientific journals or otherwise. There is no doubt in our minds that
the reviews will remove the stigma of alleged fraud and will restore Dr. Pusztai's
scientific credibility.
We are of the opinion that although some of the results are
preliminary, they are sufficient to exonerate Dr. Pusztai by showing that the consumption
of GNA-GM-potatoes by rats led to significant differences in organ weight and depression
of lymphocyte responsiveness compared to controls. There was also strong evidence that
GNA-GM tubers were not substantially equivalent to parent potatoes and indeed the two
lines of GNA-GM-potatoes in the study were also different. This makes a very strong case
for the necessity of performing further work to elucidate the toxico-pathological
importance of these findings. Unfortunately, as publication of scientific papers is a
long-drawn out process, and as there is an urgent need to bring these data into the public
arena right now such that the safety and hazards presented by GM crops could be properly
debated and assessed, we decided to publish this Memorandum.
Signed by:
Prof. E. Van Driessche
Laboratory of Protein Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
and
Prof. T.C. Bøg-Hansen
The Protein Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
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