News that one of the world's leading medical journals, The Lancet, planned to publish some of the results on the toxic effects of genetically modified potatoes on rats from Arpad Pusztai, formerly of the Rowett Institute near Aberdeen, has brought a swift reaction both from environmental groups and from the scientific community. A spokesman for Friends of the Earth said that he was "delighted" that Pusztai's work would finally be published in a peer-reviewed journal. "All the politicians, officials, and scientists who tried to rubbish Dr. Pusztai and his work will owe him a sincere and public apology." However, a number of The Lancet's own referees have threatened to "go public" with their concerns unless The Lancet makes it clear that several of them had severe misgivings about the paper. One referee said that that the only real conclusion from the paper was that raw potatoes are not very nutritious for rats. Another called it "a shambles." The Royal Society has confirmed that the Lancet article contains the same flaws as the data that it had first reviewed (and rejected) in May this year: too few animals were used, diets were uncontrolled, and controls were inadequate or absent (Nat. Biotechnol. 17, 207).