GMO Studies Compromised by Conflicts of Interest

An article published by the journal PLOS One reflects the opinion of researchers affiliated with France’s National Institute for Agricultural Research that a large portion of studies on genetically modified (GM/GMO) crops are rife with conflicts of interest. They state that many have been tainted because someone that worked on a study was also an employee of a company producing them. The study investigated direct financial conflicts of interest, but not other factors such as authors being members of advisory boards, co-holders of patents or consultants to GM companies.

Out of 579 published studies analyzed, some 40 percent showed a possible conflict of interest. The authors noted that the suspect studies had a much higher likelihood of presenting a favorable outcome for GMOs compared to others. The majority of these studies (404) were American; 83 were Chinese.

This article appears in the July 2017 issue of Natural Awakenings.