Were 'healthy' GM maize trials suppressed?

* 26 November 2007


It's enough to make Italians choke on their polenta. A row has broken
out over the alleged suppression of results of field trials in 2005
that were favourable to genetically modified maize.

The government-funded National Institute for Research on Food and
Nutrition has released data showing that yields of GM maize varieties
were 28 to 43 per cent higher than for ordinary maize, but is accused
of concealing results showing that the GM maize contained far less
fumonisin, a fungal toxin linked with spina bifida.

"The GM maize contained 60 micrograms of fumonisin per kilogram, 100
times less than the 6000 micrograms found in conventional maize,"
says Piero Morandini of the University of Milan, who made the
allegations.

In a statement issued on 15 November, the institute denied any cover-
up, claiming that the work had not been commissioned to investigate
fumonisin, and that anyway it had never received the results. It
dismisses the claims as "groundless speculation."

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From issue 2631 of New Scientist magazine, 26 November 2007, page 4