LAST week鈥檚 big panic over the safety of genetically engineered foods in
Britain has ended in a sad whimper. It now turns out that the research described
in a World in Action TV documentary claiming to show that rats fed
genetically modified potatoes had stunted growth was never carried out (see
p24). Front page headlines which screamed 鈥淕enetic Foods May Harm Humans鈥� were
soon followed by 鈥淔ood 杏吧原创 Got It Wrong鈥�.
Who is to blame? The scientist whose work was featured in the programme was
apparently confused about what experiments really had been done by his team. He
has now agreed to retire. The renowned Rowett Research Institute which employed
him seems not to have checked what he had really done鈥攖heir own press
release also described the experiments that never were.
Not surprisingly, the biotechnology company Monsanto, mentioned in the
documentary, says it is now 鈥渁nxious鈥� to meet senior people from the institute
to 鈥渆nsure a cessation of the scaremongering鈥�. And it is considering 鈥渁ction鈥� on
the grounds that the World in Action programme 鈥渄amaged our good
苍补尘别鈥�.
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What a mess. But even if the experiments described in the documentary had
really been carried out, they would have shown only that inserting a gene for a
toxin in a potato may make that potato toxic. We would have learnt nothing about
the safety of genetically modified foods in general, the subject of the
documentary.
It is a great pity that before we can get to grips with genetic manipulation
we first have to straighten out media manipulation.