Pusztai affair

Before 1995, no peer-reviewed studies had been published investigating the safety of genetically modified food using human or animal feeding trials. In 1995 the Scottish Agriculture Environment and Fisheries Department commissioned a £1.6 million three-year research study to assess the safety of genetically engineered Desiree Red potatoes. John Gatehouse at Cambridge Agricultural Genetics (later renamed Axis Genetics) and had recently completed two years of field trials at Rothamsted Experimental Station. (Further research along the same lines - inserting further antifeedant-producing genes - was performed over the next few years. This was the work of a Durham/Axis team: At University of Durham, Gatehouse, his wife Angharad and others; and Axis; and a few others.) a contract was signed with Cambridge Agricultural Genetics, which included a profit-sharing agreement, if potatoes developed using this technology were approved and released commercially. In earlier ten-day feeding trials on GNA-fed rats, Pusztai concluded that they did not significantly affect growth, despite some hypertrophy of the small intestine and a slight decrease of gut enzyme activity. ==Experiment==

The experimental potatoes had been transformed with the Galanthus nivalis agglutinin (GNA) gene from the Galanthus (snowdrop) plant, allowing the GNA lectin protein to be synthesised. This lectin is toxic to some insects. Rats were fed raw and cooked genetically modified potatoes, using unmodified Desiree Red potatoes as controls. One control group ate an unmodified Desiree Red potato spiked with the GNA snowdrop lectin. Before the experiment Pusztai and his team said they expected no differences between the rats fed modified potatoes and rats fed the non-modified ones. The potatoes were chosen because they were deemed substantially equivalent to non-genetically modified Desiree Red potatoes. The study used two transgenic lines of potato, both with the GNA gene inserted. They were grown in the same conditions as the non-genetically modified parent plant. Pusztai claimed that these differences were reason enough to discontinue further experimentation. ==Announcement==

On June 22, 1998, Pusztai revealed his research findings during an interview on Granada Television's current affairs programme World in Action titled "Eat up your genes". He was given permission to do the interview by Rowett Institute Director Philip James. Rowett's press officer was present at the start of filming. During the interview Pusztai said he had "concerns that some of the testing techniques are not up to what we thought it was necessary to do, and therefore we should have more testing." He said that the rats in his experiments suffered stunted growth and had suppressed immune systems and that more safety research was required. He also said, "If you gave me the choice now, I wouldn't eat it" == Reaction ==

World in Action issued a press release the day before the broadcast, stimulating numerous phone calls to Pusztai and the institute from government, industrial, non-governmental and media organisations. James says he was dismayed that unpublished data had been released and withdrew Pusztai from any further media commitments that morning. and supported increased safety tests on genetically modified food. In February 1999, 22 scientists from 13 countries, organised by Friends of the Earth, published a memo responding to the audit. It stated that their independent examination supported Pusztai's conclusions and that he should have been concerned by his findings. Royal Society peer review On 19 February the Royal Society publicly announced that a committee would review his work. World in Action reporters Laurie Flynn and Michael Sean Gillard claimed that this was an unusual step, as the Royal Society did not normally conduct peer reviews. It stated that Pusztai's experiments were poorly designed, contained uncertainties in the composition of diets, tested too few rats, used incorrect statistical methods and lacked consistency within experiments. He responded by saying the reviewers had reviewed only internal Rowett reports, which did not include the design or methodology of the experiments. ==Publication==

The data were published as a letter in The Lancet in October 1999, co-authored by Ewen. It reported significant differences in the thickness of the gut epithelium of rats fed genetically modified potatoes (compared to those fed the control diet), but no differences in growth or immune system function were suggested. The letter was reviewed by six reviewers – three times the Lancet's usual number. Four reviewers found it acceptable after revisions. A fifth thought it was flawed, but wanted it published "to avoid suspicions of a conspiracy against Pusztai and to give colleagues a chance to see the data for themselves". The sixth, John Pickett of the Institute of Arable Crops Research, also said it was flawed. After consulting with the Royal Society, Pickett publicly criticised The Lancet for agreeing to publish the study. The study, which used data held by Ewen, who was not subject to the veto of Pusztai's work, Pusztai responded to these criticisms by saying that all the experimental diets had the same protein and energy content, and that the food intake of all rats was the same. In an interview, Pickett later said that Lancet editor Richard Horton must have had a political motive for publishing the paper because the referees had rejected it. According to Pusztai this claim was repeated by academic critics who assumed that Pickett's use of the plural suggested that the study had failed peer review. == Aftermath ==

Ewen retired following publication, claiming that his career options had been "blocked at a very high level". In 2005 Pusztai was given a whistleblower award from the Federation of German Scientists. ==See also==