Peer reviewed ASK-FORCE AF-4 contribution by Klaus Ammann, em. Prof. University of Bern, Switzerland

1. The Issue
Ermakova claims that HT-soybeans in the diet of experimental rats caused high death rates in pups and low growth rates. A group of international experts has criticized the work on the basis of an interview with Dr. Ermakova, done by the editor in chief of Nature Biotechnology, see

Marshall, A., Ermakova, I., Chassy, B., Giddings, V., McHughen, A., & Moses, V. (2007)
  GM soybeans and health safety - a controversy reexamined. Nature Biotechnology, 25, 9, pp 981-987
  10.1038/nbt0907-981

Ermakova, I.V. (2007)
  GM soybeans - revisiting a controversial format. Nature Biotechnology, 25, 12, pp 1351-1354
  10.1038/nbt1207-1351

Marshall, A. (2007)
  GM soybeans - revisiting a controversial format - Response. Nature Biotechnology, 25, 12, pp 1359-1360
  10.1038/nbt1207-1359

2. Summary
In an article of Nature Biotechnology, the editor in chief Andy Marshall produced a feature in form of an interview with Dr. Irina V. Ermakova with her statements concerning her rat experiments with RR soybeans,  which appeared on over 500 internet websites but were not published in a peer reviewed journal. Ermakova describes experiments in which rats were fed Roundup Ready Soybeans.  She reports having observed an rat infant mortality of over 50% when fed with GM soy-fed groups; she also claims the GM-soy fed pups gained weight more slowly than the controls.
The original interview of Irina Ermakova has been published by the editor in chief Andrew Marshall in Nature Biotechnology (Marshall et al., 2007), including some rebuttals.
Marshall, A., Ermakova, I., Chassy, B., Giddings, V., McHughen, A., & Moses, V. (2007)
GM soybeans and health safety—a controversy reexamined. Nature Biotechnology, 25,  9,  pp 981-987 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nbt0907-981

This reference contains comments of the editor in chief of Nature Biotechnology Andrew Marshall, his interview questions and the summary of Dr. Ermakova’s statements, and a critical comment of the following invited experts: Dr. Bruce Chassy, Dr. L. Val Giddings,  Dr. Alan McHughen and Dr.Vivian Moses, see below their detailed affiliations.

In a second feature the editor in chief of Nature Biotechnology organized a follow up debate of the original participants:  (Ermakova, 2007), (Chassy et al., 2007) and (Marshall, 2007) .
(Ermakova, 2007) replied to the criticism she has not seen before the first publication (details about the circumstances below).
She was seconded by colleagues (Cummings, 2007; Heinemann & Traavik, 2007; Ho & Saunders, 2007; John, 2007; Leifert, 2007), they were all indulging in procedural criticism, but strangely enough they avoided to go into the scientific details, which are so important in this case. It is part of the usual tactics of opponents of GM crops.

As a whole, it is a learning piece of a scientific debate for everybody involved, but at the end of the day some major scientific concerns about Ermakova’s paper persist. The results obtained by Dr. Ermakova in these experiments are, up to this date (1. August 2009) not published as an original research paper in a pertinent and peer reviewed journal of wide distribution.
From the abstract : 

“An unprecedented study claiming that transgenic soybeans compromise the fertility of rats and the survival and growth of their offspring has garnered widespread media and political attention but remains unpublished in the peer-reviewed literature. Here, an account of the work from the principal investigator, Irina Ermakova, is appended with comments from researchers in the field.”

And from the response of A. Marshall (Marshall, 2007):

“The September Feature was a new format for Nature Biotechnology. My aim in publishing this Feature was to provide an informative presentation of the science behind Ermakova’s work, the problems posed by publicizing original data to the media without first publishing it in the peer-reviewed literature, and to open this particular debate to a wider audience. Indeed, many investigators who were unaware of her results now have an opportunity to build on her work and attempt to reproduce it.”

For citations and more text click: http://www.botanischergarten.ch/AF-4-Ermakova/AF-4-Ermakova-20090828-web.pdf

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