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Conflict of interests and evidence base for GM crops food/feed safety research

Nature Biotechnology volume 33, pages 135–137 (2015)Cite this article

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To the Editor:

A survey published in your pages several years ago1 and a more recent review published elsewhere2 indicate that there are >32,000 papers in the literature relating to genetically modified (GM) crops food and feed. Of those papers, only a subset relate specifically to human and environmental health risks. Although analyses of the literature have consistently concluded that the hazards associated with the use of GM crops are no greater than those for conventionally bred crops2, naysayers in the public debate continue to raise questions about the safety of these crops, citing a too-limited pool of original studies on GM crops food/feed safety and a surfeit of studies in which outcomes may have been compromised because conflicts of interest (COIs) may have introduced bias and de-emphasized risks3,4,5. Here, I present an assessment of original research papers addressing food/feed safety aspects of GM crops published in peer- reviewed scientific journals (hereafter referred to as reports) with a view to defining the extent of literature related to food/feed safety and examining the issue of COIs.

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Figure 1: Trends in GM food/feed safety research over the 1993–2014 period.

References

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Acknowledgements

M.A.S. thanks Drs. H. Campos and W. Parrott for their comments and insights on drafts of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ChileBio, Santiago, Chile

    Miguel A Sanchez

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  1. Miguel A Sanchez
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Correspondence to Miguel A Sanchez.

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Competing interests

M.A.S. is employed by ChileBio, which is funded by CropLife International and companies that develop GM crops.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Table 1

List of original research publications identified including authors affiliation and funding source of each report (XLSX 276 kb)

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Sanchez, M. Conflict of interests and evidence base for GM crops food/feed safety research. Nat Biotechnol 33, 135–137 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.3133

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