Gilles-Eric Séralini is a professor of molecular biology at the University of Caen, France. He has written over 100 scientific articles and conference papers for international specialist symposiums.

He was appointed to two French government commissions on GMOs: the Biomolecular Engineering Commission (CGB: Commission du Genie Biomoleculaire) which oversees risk assessment, on which he served for nine years; and the Biovigilance Committee, looking at commercialised GMOs, on which he served for ten years.

In 2003 he was appointed an expert advisor on GM to the European Commission in the context of its WTO dispute. In 2008 Séralini was made a Knight of the French Order of Merit in recognition of his scientific research.

However, since the time that he began to voice serious concerns about GM, and about the quality of GM, food and pesticide regulation, he has come under sustained personal attack, particularly after his research exposing problems in this area was published in peer-reviewed journals.

In January 2011 Séralini won a libel case against Marc Fellous, head of the French Association of Plant Biotechnology and the former Chair of the CGB on which Séralini served. But the defamatory attacks continued and reached a new pitch following the publication of his study on NK603 maize and Roundup.

While serving as a regulator, Séralini said he saw GM regulatory decisions being pushed through independently of the full CGB by Fellous. Séralini added that unlike himself, Fellous has not published any research in international scientific journals relating to plant genetics, plant biotechnology, or food safety with regard to agricultural GMOs. 1, 2

Judging that the studies on GMO safety were inadequate, Séralini founded the Committee of Independent Research and Information on Genetic Engineering (CRIIGEN), along with France’s former environment minister and Member of the European Parliament Corinne Lepage, and Jean-Marie Pelt. Séralini is president of the scientific board of CRIIGEN.

 

 

References:

1. Séralini GE. Ces OGM qui Changent le Monde: Flammarion; 2010.
2. Séralini GE. Tous Cobayes!: Flammarion; 2012.