Food Biotech Companies, EU Regulators In Bed Together

There is close collaboration between experts on the GMO Panel of the European Food Safety Authority, EFSA, and the biotech industry. The chair of the GMO expert panel which is dealing with risk assessment of genetically engineered plants, Harry Kuiper, and a second expert from the same panel, Gijs Kleter, have for years been working with the International Life Science Institute (ILSI). They cooperate with representatives of companies such as Monsanto, Dupont, Dow AgroSciences, Syngenta and Bayer, within projects that aim to soften criteria for risk assessment for genetically engineered plants.

Several complaints about collaboration between EFSA and corporations have been made public in the last few months. At the end of September it was made public that Diána Bánáti, a member of the management board at EFSA, was also active in ILSI. After public discussion, Banati resigned from her tasks at ILSI. In another case, the head of the secretary of the GMO panel, Suzy Renckens, moved directly to the Syngenta company after leaving EFSA, without the authority imposing any restrictions. New accusations were made about the conflict of interest in the assessment of toxic chemicals, a matter in which ILSI also plays a decisive role.'

Read more...