Scientists question claims in US biotech letter

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) â€" The widespread Internet posting of a letter by a retired university researcher who says he has linked genetically modified corn and soybeans to crop diseases and abortions and infertility in livestock has raised concern among scientists that the public will believe his unsupported claim is true.

The letter to the U.S. agriculture secretary has been posted on dozens of websites, generating discussion on message boards about the controversial topic of genetically modified crops and their potential effect on animals and humans.

But other scientists say they have no way to verify Purdue University professor emeritus Don Huber's claims because he won't provide evidence to back them up.

"People in the scientific community have at times made outlandish claims but it's been based on research that was flawed in some way, but at least the data was provided to be analyzed and critiqued," said Bob Hartzler, an Iowa State University agronomy professor who called the letter "extremely unusual, especially coming from the scientific community."

Huber, 76, wrote the letter to Tom Vilsack in January, warning of a new organism he claims has been found in corn and soybeans modified to resist a weed killer called Roundup. Huber wrote that the organism could lead to a "general collapse of our critical agriculture infrastructure" and further approval of Roundup Ready crops "could be a calamity."

He told The Associated Press the organism that concerned him was found in much higher concentrations in corn and soybeans grown from so-called Roundup Ready seeds than in grains grown from conventional seed, although the samples of conventional crops tested were too small to get a reliable result.

Huber believes the pathogen has made genetically modified soybeans more susceptible to sudden death syndrome and corn to Goss' wilt. He also claims it's linked to spontaneous abortions and infertility in livestock that eat feed generated from those crops.

He said he wrote the letter because he thought the U.S. Department of Agriculture needed to take immediate action and provide resources to further research his claims. He said he doesn't know how it reached the Internet.

The department acknowledged it had received the letter, but it doesn't appear the agency is investigating the matter.

Monsanto, the St. Louis-based company that developed Roundup resistant seeds, said in a statement it was not aware of reliable studies that show Roundup Ready crops are more prone to disease.

Huber, who now lives in Melba, Idaho, said he started his research at Purdue in Indiana and continued it in collaboration with other scientists in the Midwest, Florida, Brazil and Canada after retiring in 2006. He declined to name the other scientists, saying they asked to remain anonymous because the attention would distract from the research.

"The information on the new organism was new enough that there wasn't time for peer-reviewed papers and that it was serious enough I felt it was very important the secretary know what the situation was and that they exercise some caution before moving forward," Huber said.

The U.S., meanwhile, has moved ahead with an expansion of biotech crops.

In January, the department of agriculture deregulated alfalfa and in February it partially deregulated sugar beets that have been genetically modified to withstand Roundup, which contains a chemical called glyphosate.