Arpad pusztai biography template

Dr Pusztai told of his findings on the ill effects of GM potatoes on laboratory rats. He was subsequently gagged and suspended by his institute, the Rowett Research Institute in Scotland, his research team was disbanded, and his research data was confiscated. He was subjected to a campaign of vilification and misrepresentation by several pro-GM scientific bodies and pro-GM lobbyists, in an attempt to discredit him and his research.

The story began three years earlier.

Árpád János Pusztai (8 September

That's when the UK government's Scottish Office commissioned a three-year multi-centre research programme into the safety of GM food under the coordination of Dr Arpad Pusztai. At that time there was not a single publication in a peer-reviewed journal on the safety of GM food. He was the world's leading expert on the plant proteins known as lectins.

He had published three books and over scientific studies. He and his team fought off competition from 28 other research organisations from across Europe to be awarded the GBP1. The research involved feeding GM potatoes to rats and monitoring physiological changes. By late preliminary results from the rat-feeding experiments were showing totally unexpected and worrying changes in the size and weight of the rat's body organs.

Liver and heart sizes were getting smaller, and so was the brain. There were also indications that the rats' immune systems were weakening. The filming took place in late June with the agreement of the director of the Rowett Institute, Professor Philip James , and in the presence of the Rowett Institute's press officer. The World in Action interview was broadcast on the evening of Monday 10 August Later that evening Professor James congratulated Dr Pusztai on his TV appearance, commenting on "how well Arpad had handled the questions".

The next day a further press release from the Rowett noted that 'a range of carefully controlled studies underlie the basis of Dr Pusztai's concerns'.