Trusting the 'experts'

Thinking back to the last post, I started to wonder about the 'experts' that put themselves forward in this controversy. In this post I'm looking at two expert groups - scientists, and the people at Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ).

Of course our first instinct is to trust FSANZ, as they effectively control what food stuff is allowed to be released in Australia and New Zealand (that is their purpose). If they say it's safe, then it must be, right? I mean, they have teams of scientists who conduct all sorts of tests to determine the safety of any GM food or food product. They even ask for public feedback before anything is released into the market (assuming they pass the safety assessment).

I came across this interesting bit of info when looking through their site. The link to the page is: http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/scienceandeducation/factsheets/factsheets2010/updateaustriangovern4778.cfm

Basically, FSANZ commissioned Australian scientists to study the effect of a particular GM corn on the fertility and longevity of mice. The scientists reported at the end of the experiment that there were slight differences between the fertility of GM and non-GM fed mice. In other words, they were saying that being on a diet of GM changed the mice's fertility in some way (this isn't specified on the website).

However, when FSANZ took a close look at the report, they found 'numerous deficiencies in the experimental methods used, and in the interpretation of results.' They also found that there were calculation errors. 'As well as the calculation errors, it appears that the apparent statistical difference in the third and fourth litters is based on an unusually large litter size in the control group. Furthermore, it is worth noting that pup losses in the GM group were actually lower than in the control group in the first, third and fourth litters, however this was not reported by the authors.'


All of these errors resulted in the conclusion that there was a difference in GM-fed mice. This conclusion was incorrect. There really was no statistical difference between the two mice groups. 


FSANZ has had to dismiss the findings of the paper all together, and apparently there are no plans to re-do the experiment.


The GM corn in question had previously been shown by numerous agencies around the world to pose no risk when consumed.


When you see something like this, it makes you wonder if there was some ulterior motive behind the scientists, because these are pretty big mistakes to make. Either that, or they were pretty sloppy with their work, and very selective with what results they put forward.


Seeing this also makes me happy FSANZ exists, and that the people there are smart enough to pick up on something like this. If those original results had been released into the hands of the media or advocacy groups, you can just imagine the outrage it would cause.

In this case, it is very good that there are experts to look over the other experts shoulders and make sure what they are doing is correct.