Has the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) appointed scientists who are too close to the biotechnology industry to its panel on genetically modified organisms (GMOs)? In an analysis published on Thursday 5 September, the German NGO Testbiotech severely criticises the Parma-based agency and estimates that almost half of its new group of experts on GMOs, set up at the beginning of July for the next five years, themselves find themselves in a conflict of interest.
The issue is a delicate one for several reasons. Firstly, because EFSA’s experience with “new GMOs” – obtained using new genomic techniques (NGT) – forms the basis of the European Commission’s plans to liberalise these new plants. And secondly, because the scientific opinions expressed on the subject are completely divergent. Adopted in June, EFSA’s latest opinion, in favour of a wide-ranging liberalisation of these crops, thus contradicts the opinions expressed by French experts from the National Agency for Food Safety, Environment and Work (ANSES) or by the official environmental agencies of Germany and Austria.
According to Testbiotech, seven of the sixteen experts on the new EFSA GMO panel are “It is actively involved in the development of genetically modified plants, some of which are obtained through “new genomic techniques.”” Five of them are or have been involved in industrial projects with the firms Limagrain, Syngenta or Corteva, the NGO adds in its analysis. Five are listed as inventors in patents filed by the industry; six are, or have been, involved in lobbying activities in favour of biotechnologies, most of them linked to the deregulation of plants from NGT.
Lobbying activities
“We carefully assess the interests of all our experts in accordance with our policy of independence, recognised as one of the strictest of any public body in Europe.we respond to EFSA. If we find a potential conflict of interest during our checks, we apply strict measures to exclude the expert from any related scientific work. But it is important to note that having an interest does not necessarily imply the existence of a conflict of interest. »
The European agency adds that it publishes all the declarations of interests of its experts, a transparency policy thanks to which “NGOs like Testbiotech can value our work”However, the German NGO claims to have identified in several cases lobbying activities not mentioned in the declarations of interests published by EFSA.
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