Séralini wins libel case on GMOs

Leading French researcher on the impacts of GMOs Gilles-Eric Séralini has won the court case against  Marc Fellous of the Association Française des Biotechnologies Végétales (AFBV) for libel. Fellous was convicted to the symbolic fine of 1 euro for damages. Many people showed up on 17 January in front of the court in Paris. Corinne Lepage, MEP, said “When a whistleblower moves from the defensive to the offensive, this is now bearing its fruits.”

Fellous had written last year to France 5, a television channel, and to the Superior Adiovisual Council to criticise Séralini’s presence in the show “le Magazine de la santé” broadcasted on 21 January 2010. He said “By giving this controversial researcher, a militant, media exposure, France 5 becomes the spokesperson for a scaremongerer (literally ‘seller of fear’).”

Séralini has undertaken the crucial task of re-analysing the data presented by Monsanto and various member states on the health impacts of three Monsanto GM maize varieties (MON 863, MON 810 and NK603). He found that there were “signs of hepatorenal toxicity, possibly due to the new pesticides specific to each GM corn”, but both EFSA and Monsanto dismissed the result of the findings.  Séralini's research and his consistent critique of the approval processes for the Monsanto crops, has made him unpopular in biotech circles.

See also:

http://www.rue89.com/planete89/2011/01/18/le-chercheur-anti-ogm-seralini...

http://www.corporateeurope.org/agribusiness/content/2010/12/séralini-vs-fellous-gmo-libel-case