No scientific consensus on GMO safety

A broad community of independent scientific researchers and scholars challenges recent claims of a consensus over the safety of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). In the following joint statement, the claimed consensus is shown to be an artificial construct that has been falsely perpetuated through diverse fora. Irrespective of contradictory evidence in the refereed literature, as documented below, the claim that there is now a consensus on the safety of GMOs continues to be widely and often uncritically aired. For decades, the safety of GMOs has been a hotly controversial topic that has been much debated around the world. Published results are contradictory, in part due to the range of different research methods employed, an inadequacy of available procedures, and differences in the analysis and interpretation of data. Such a lack of consensus on safety is also evidenced by the agreement of policymakers from over 160 countries - in the UN’s Cartagena Biosafety Protocol and the Guidelines of the Codex Alimentarius - to authorize careful case-by-case assessment of each GMO by national authorities to determine whether the particular construct satisfies the national criteria for ‘safe’. Rigorous assessment of GMO safety has been hampered by the lack of funding independent of proprietary interests. Research for the public good has been further constrained by property rights issues, and by denial of access to research material for researchers unwilling to sign contractual agreements with the developers, which confer unacceptable control over publication to the proprietary interests. The joint statement developed and signed by over 300 independent researchers, and reproduced and published below, does not assert that GMOs are unsafe or safe. Rather, the statement concludes that the scarcity and contradictory nature of the scientific evidence published to date prevents conclusive claims of safety, or of lack of safety, of GMOs. Claims of consensus on the safety of GMOs are not supported by an objective analysis of the refereed literature

Rapport de l'atelier : "La recherche française autour du programme international de recherche de l'initiative 4 pour 1000 : les sols pour la sécurité alimentaire et le climat"

La France et en particulier les organismes de recherche français sont à l'origine de l'Initiative " 4 pour 1000 [4P1000] " et y jouent à ce titre un rôle moteur. Cet atelier co-organisé par le CEA, le CIRAD, le CNRS, l'INRA, l'IRD, et le soutien financier du Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur, de la Recherche et de l'Innovation, l'ADEME et l'ISite MUSE a réuni près de 80 participants dont certains participent à des réseaux (plus d'une trentaine représentés lors de l'Atelier). Ce rapport présente les fronts de science et des actions de recherche à programmer de façon prioritaire pour alimenter les 4 piliers du volet recherche de l'Initiative 4P1000. Ces priorités sont organisées en 6 thèmes interdisciplinaires interconnectés (cf figure 1) : •Aménagement du territoire •Perception et pratiques des agriculteurs •Moteurs de la transition •Outils d'évaluation et de suivi •Conditions du succès sur le long terme •Co-bénéfices (multi dimensionnels

Anthropogenic- and natural sources of dust in peatland during the Anthropocene

As human impact have been increasing strongly over the last decades, it is crucial to distinguish human-induced dust sources from natural ones in order to define the boundary of a newly proposed epoch - the Anthropocene. Here, we track anthropogenic signatures and natural geochemical anomalies in the Mukhrino peatland, Western Siberia. Human activity was recorded there from cal AD 1958 (±6). Anthropogenic spheroidal aluminosilicates clearly identify the beginning of industrial development and are proposed as a new indicator of the Anthropocene. In cal AD 1963 (±5), greatly elevated dust deposition and an increase in REE serve to show that the geochemistry of elements in the peat can be evidence of nuclear weapon testing; such constituted an enormous force blowing soil dust into the atmosphere. Among the natural dust sources, minor signals of dryness and of the Tunguska cosmic body (TCB) impact were noted. The TCB impact was indirectly confirmed by an unusual occurrence of mullite in the pea

Are environmental conditions recorded by the organic matrices associated with precipitated calcium carbonate in cyanobacterial microbialites?

International audienceThe amino acid composition of organic matrices associated with calcium carbonate precipitates in microbialites built by different Phormidium species (cyanobacteria) has been compared for samples recovered in lagoonal settings from two regions of the Southern Tropical Pacific separated by more than 4000 km: New Caledonia (Nouméa lagoon) and French Polynesia (Tikehau atoll). Calcium carbonate precipitation in these microbial structures was observed mainly in the interior of the domes and clearly separated from the photosynthetically active surface layer. This study focuses on the hydrolysable amino acid composition of the associated organic matrices that are typically rich in cysteine, leucine, alanine and arginine in New Caledonia, whereas they are particularly rich in dicarboxylic amino acids in French Polynesia. This striking difference is seemingly related to different environmental conditions that characterize the two reef settings. The high cysteine content suggests an origin from metallothioneins produced by the cyanobacteria and/or by epiphytic diatoms that were observed on the top layer, as the result of the input of metals from terrestrial origin in the Nouméa lagoon. In addition, we analysed the bulk organic matter of the photosynthetically active surface layer and of the interior of the domes. The former showed remarkable variations of amino acid composition throughout the year 2001, which may potentially reflect the impact of climatological events (e.g. cyclones) and/or a much stronger seasonality in New Caledonia than in French Polynesia. Although the mechanisms behind the differences remain elusive, our study clearly shows that environmental conditions can be reflected by amino acid compositions, particularly for the organic matrices associated with carbonate precipitates

Introducing global peat-specific temperature and pH calibrations based on brGDGT bacterial lipids

Glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) are membrane-spanning lipids from Bacteria and Archaea that are ubiquitous in a range of natural archives and especially abundant in peat. Previous work demonstrated that the distribution of bacterial branched GDGTs (brGDGTs) in mineral soils is correlated to environmental factors such as mean annual air temperature (MAAT) and soil pH. However, the influence of these parameters on brGDGT distributions in peat is largely unknown. Here we investigate the distribution of brGDGTs in 470 samples from 96 peatlands around the world with a broad mean annual air temperature (-8 to 27 degrees C) and pH (3-8) range and present the first peat-specific brGDGT-based temperature and pH calibrations. Our results demonstrate that the degree of cyclisation of brGDGTs in peat is positively correlated with pH, pH = 2.49 x CBTpeat + 8.07 (n = 51, R-2 = 0.58, RMSE = 0.8) and the degree of methylation of brGDGTs is positively correlated with MAAT, MAAT(peat) (degrees C) = 52.18 x MBT'(5me) - 23.05 (n = 96, R-2 = 0.76, RMSE = 4.7 degrees C). These peat-specific calibrations are distinct from the available mineral soil calibrations. In light of the error in the temperature calibration (similar to 4.7 degrees C), we urge caution in any application to reconstruct late Holocene climate variability, where the climatic signals are relatively small, and the duration of excursions could be brief. Instead, these proxies are well-suited to reconstruct large amplitude, longer-term shifts in climate such as deglacial transitions. Indeed, when applied to a peat deposit spanning the late glacial period (similar to 15.2 kyr), we demonstrate that MAAT(peat) yields absolute temperatures and relative temperature changes that are consistent with those from other proxies. In addition, the application of MAAT(peat) to fossil peat (i.e. lignites) has the potential to reconstruct terrestrial climate during the Cenozoic. We conclude that there is clear potential to use brGDGTs in peats and lignites to reconstruct past terrestrial climate. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd

Scientists’ warning : we must change paradigm for a revolution in toxicology and world food supply

We propose a new paradigm, as toxicology currently lacks the proper perspective. From the 1950s to the 1970s, at least one-third of all toxicological testing in the United States, including for chemicals and drugs, was misleading scientists, and this worldwide issue persists today. Moreover, petroleum-based waste and heavy metals have been discovered in pesticide and plasticizer formulations. These contaminations have now reached all forms of life. Widespread exposure to chemical mixtures promotes health and environmental risks. We discovered that pesticides have never undergone long-term testing on mammals in their full commercial formulations by regulatory authorities or the pesticide industry; instead, only their declared active ingredients have been assessed, contrary to environmental law recommendations. The ingredients of these formulations are not fully disclosed, yet the formulations are in general at least 1000 times more toxic at low environmentally relevant doses than the active ingredients alone under conditions of long-term exposure. A similar lack of comprehensive toxicological evaluation applies to plasticizers. Their regulatory authorisations might have been obtained by incomplete, misleading and potentially false input data. This has profound implications not only for scientific knowledge, but also for public and environmental health. We propose pragmatically a paradigm shift in regulation: 1/to lower the ADI of polluting substances by at least a factor of 100 for already authorized products; 2/for new compounds, the obligation to test the full pesticide formulations in vivo chronically at environmentally relevant levels. This is necessary because pesticides are synthesized from petroleum, which can contain heavy metals. Moreover, formulated pesticides can contain plasticizers. The declared active substance, as an isolated compound of this mixture chosen by the company, will not have to be tested by itself alone. Compensation could be organized for pesticide use reduction, this will save health and environmental degradation; 3/the complete toxicological raw data for individual animals should be published on the Internet, including the precise protocols by which they were obtained, and they must be accessible for the scientific community, including students. There is no reason to keep these data secret. Implementing these changes would also support the advancement of agroecological alternatives

Characterization of coal from the Mariovo basin, Macedonia – Insights from organic geochemical and sulphur isotopic data.

Data detailed petrographic study of coal from the Mariovo basin in Macedonia suggests circulation of fluids mobilizing metals from different origins (basement, volcanism ?) during burial. Sulphur isotopic data on organic matter and pyrite indicate dominantly marine-derive fluids and processus of bacterial reduction of sulphates

No scientific consensus on GMO safety

A broad community of independent scientific researchers and scholars challenges recent claims of a consensus over the safety of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). In the following joint statement, the claimed consensus is shown to be an artificial construct that has been falsely perpetuated through diverse fora. Irrespective of contradictory evidence in the refereed literature, as documented below, the claim that there is now a consensus on the safety of GMOs continues to be widely and often uncritically aired. For decades, the safety of GMOs has been a hotly controversial topic that has been much debated around the world. Published results are contradictory, in part due to the range of different research methods employed, an inadequacy of available procedures, and differences in the analysis and interpretation of data. Such a lack of consensus on safety is also evidenced by the agreement of policymakers from over 160 countries - in the UN’s Cartagena Biosafety Protocol and the Guidelines of the Codex Alimentarius - to authorize careful case-by-case assessment of each GMO by national authorities to determine whether the particular construct satisfies the national criteria for ‘safe’. Rigorous assessment of GMO safety has been hampered by the lack of funding independent of proprietary interests. Research for the public good has been further constrained by property rights issues, and by denial of access to research material for researchers unwilling to sign contractual agreements with the developers, which confer unacceptable control over publication to the proprietary interests. The joint statement developed and signed by over 300 independent researchers, and reproduced and published below, does not assert that GMOs are unsafe or safe. Rather, the statement concludes that the scarcity and contradictory nature of the scientific evidence published to date prevents conclusive claims of safety, or of lack of safety, of GMOs. Claims of consensus on the safety of GMOs are not supported by an objective analysis of the refereed literature

Co-Formulants in Glyphosate-Based Herbicides Disrupt Aromatase Activity in Human Cells below Toxic Levels

Pesticide formulations contain declared active ingredients and co-formulants presented as inert and confidential compounds. We tested the endocrine disruption of co-formulants in six glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH), the most used pesticides worldwide. All co-formulants and formulations were comparably cytotoxic well below the agricultural dilution of 1% (18–2000 times for co-formulants, 8–141 times for formulations), and not the declared active ingredient glyphosate (G) alone. The endocrine-disrupting effects of all these compounds were measured on aromatase activity, a key enzyme in the balance of sex hormones, below the toxicity threshold. Aromatase activity was decreased both by the co-formulants alone (polyethoxylated tallow amine—POEA and alkyl polyglucoside—APG) and by the formulations, from concentrations 800 times lower than the agricultural dilutions; while G exerted an effect only at 1/3 of the agricultural dilution. It was demonstrated for the first time that endocrine disruption by GBH could not only be due to the declared active ingredient but also to co-formulants. These results could explain numerous in vivo results with GBHs not seen with G alone; moreover, they challenge the relevance of the acceptable daily intake (ADI) value for GBHs exposures, currently calculated from toxicity tests of the declared active ingredient alone