Scientists potato alert was untrue


13 August 1998


Scientist’s potato alert ‘was untrue’


THE Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen has admitted that warnings about genetically modified (GM) food issued by one of its scientists were improper and misleading.

Dr Arpad Pusztai, the scientist involved, has been suspended.

He claimed the immune systems of laboratory rats had been damaged after eating the GM potatoes.

It has since emerged that the potatoes had been modified using genes from jackbeans, which produce lectins. The scientists findings were therefore not surprising, since lectins are known to cause damage to immune systems.

The Institute intends to carry out feeding trials with a potato modified by inserting the gene for this lectin, called Con A, but work has not started yet.

The Institute said it “regrets the release of misleading information about issues of such importance to the public and the scientific community”.

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