The Séralini Study and Long-Term GMO Toxicity 04 Oct 12 When
GMOs were about to be launched on the market in the late 1980s,
the principle of substantial equivalence was introduced.
According to this principle, GMOs are considered substantially
equivalent to their non-modified counterparts, thus eliminating
the need to carry out long-term tests on the effects of their
consumption. Many scientists, and public opinion in general,
have long opposed this principle, claiming that the
modifications introduced into the DNA cannot offer any certainty
as to long-term effects. One of these scientists is Marcello
Buiatti, a professor of genetics at the University of Florence.
“The control of possible risks was entrusted to the EFSA, the
European Food Safety Authority, whose guidelines for the
analysis of risk are inadequate. In particular, experiments to
evaluate the possible toxicity of GMOs must be carried out
within a time span of 90 days, which allows the study of short-
term toxicity, but often is not long enough to