Publisher Withdraws Séralini Study Linking GM Maize to Rat Tumors

The journal Food and Chemical Toxicology retracted the article Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize authored by a group led by Gilles Eric Seralini which was published in November 2012. "This retraction comes after a thorough and time-consuming analysis of the published article and the data it reports, along with an investigation into the peer-review behind the article," the journals Editor-in-Chief said. 

The statement cited the letters received by the journal expressing concerns about the validity of the findings described in the study, proper use of animals, and allegations of fraud. The Editor-in-Chief examined the peer review process and requested permission from the corresponding author to review the raw data. Though no evidence of fraud or intentional misrepresentation of the data was found, there is a concern regarding both the number of animals in each study group and the particular strain selected. A more in-depth look at the raw data revealed that no definitive conclusions can be reached with the small sample size regarding the role of either NK603 or glyphosate in regards to overall mortality or tumor incidence.

For more about this, read the statement of Food and Chemical Toxicology at http://www.elsevier.com/about/press-releases/research-and-journals/elsevier-announces-article-retraction-from-journal-food-and-chemical-toxicology. Related news article published by Nature is available at: http://www.nature.com/news/study-linking-gm-maize-to-rat-tumours-is-retracted-1.14268?WT.mc_id=FBK_NPG_1311_NatureNews#auth-1.