The world according to Monsanto : pollution, corruption, and

174 the world according to monsanto“Never. While we were writing our book, we discovered that in 1987 theauthorized level of glyphosate residue on soybeans was 6 ppm. Then,strangely, in 1995, a year before Roundup Ready soybeans came on the market,the level permitted by the FDA rose to 20 ppm. I talked to Phil Erricoof the toxicology branch of the EPA, and he told me: ‘Monsanto provided uswith studies showing that 20 ppm did not pose any health risk and the authorizedlevel was changed.’ Welcome to the United States.”To be fair, Europe hardly does any better. According to information publishedin Pesticides News in September 1999, in response to the importationof transgenic soybeans from America, the European Commission multipliedthe authorized level of glyphosate residue by 200, raising it from 0.1 ppm to20 ppm (mg/kg).Bad Science“Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food,” PhilAngell declared in October 1998. “Our interest is in selling as much of it aspossible. Assuring its safety is the FDA’s job.” 38 The quotation didn’t evenbring a smile to the face of James Maryanski, who claimed that he ate transgenicsoy every day, “because in the United States, 70 percent of foods in thegrocery store contain GMOs. FDA is confident that the soybean, in terms offood safety, is as safe as other varieties of soybean.”“How is the FDA confident about that?”“It’s based on all the data that the company provided to the FDA, that wasreviewed by FDA scientists. And so it’s not in a company’s interest to try todesign a study in some way that would mask results.”One would like to share Maryanski’s optimism, but it is seriously open toquestion. At least that is the impression I had after a long conversation withProfessor Ian Pryme on November 22, 2006, in his laboratory in the departmentof biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Bergen,Norway. In 2003, this British scientist and a Danish colleague, ProfessorRolf Lembcke (since deceased), decided to analyze the few toxicologicalstudies that had been conducted on transgenic foods. 39 One of the studieswas the second one published in 1996 by Monsanto researchers intended toassess the possible toxicity of Roundup Ready soybeans. 40