ANBio

ANBio is the National Biosafety Association of Brazil, which was set up in March 1999 as a "non-profit scientific society" with "the purpose of promoting Biosafety as a scientific subject".

According to AnBio's website in 2001 it was funded by the big genetically modified (GM) crop companies, although it does not declare that on its website as of 2012.

Role in dismissing Seralini's GM maize study

In November 2012 Lucia de Souza and Leila Macedo Oda, who were listed in 2001 as directors of AnBio when it was funded by GM companies, had a letter published in the scientific journal Food and Chemical Toxicology, in which they expressed their "serious concerns" about the journal's earlier publication of a paper by Professor G.E. Seralini and colleagues at the University of Caen, France, which they criticised as flawed. Seralini's study had found that rats fed on Monsanto's GM maize NK603 and tiny amounts of the crop's associated herbicide Roundup had increased tumour incidence, mortality, and serious liver and kidney damage.

In their letter to Food and Chemical Toxicology De Souza and Oda listed their affiliation as AnBio, though no mention was made in their published letter of AnBio's funders, which in 2001 included GM seed developer and trading companies Monsanto, Bayer, Cargill, DuPont, and Pioneer.

Oda was the major source quoted in an AnBio press release disseminated two days after the release of Seralini's paper. The release said AnBio "warned about the dissemination of research developed without appropriate scientific methodology, without statistical significance and elaborated in a rather biased way".

Oda was quoted in the AnBio release as saying that "ideological positions can influence quite negatively the understanding of reputable scientific information on GM food, vaccines and even biological medicines produced by modern biotechnology."

The AnBio release said, clearly referring to Seralini's study but without mentioning his name, "ANBio challenges the technical credibility of a questionable French study that casts doubts on the safety of one of the technologies of transgenic corn, which has been consumed by millions of people worldwide for nearly 10 years."

Again, no mention was made in the published release about AnBio's funders. The organisation was described in neutral terms as if its primary focus were "biosafety" and "biosecurity":

The National Biosafety Association (ANBio) was established in 1999 with the aim of disseminating information about advances in modern biotechnology and its control mechanisms. Promoting knowledge of biosecurity and its practices are in its scope of work, as a scientific discipline, as well as training and guidance of professionals who implement biosafety in research institutions and biomedical education.

Oda was also quoted criticising Seralini's study in an article for the Russian news outlet Pravda, in which she was described as "president of National Biosafety, ANBio".

Funding

2001: According to AnBio web pages downloaded in 2001, the organisation's corporate partners (funders) included the following genetically modified crop companies:

• Bayer
• Cargill
• DuPont
• Ajinomoto
• Monsanto
• Novozymes
• Pioneer

Information on corporate funders as at November 2012 can no longer be found on AnBio's website but an English translated list of its "corporate and institutional members" circa 2001 along with its Executive Board, Scientific Committee and Audit Committee can be found here, and also includes Syngenta.

People

• Leila dos Santos Macedo - Founder and President
• Lúcia Helena Oliveira de Souza - vice president since 2005, who is involved in the international Public Research and Regulation Initiative.

Contact

Address:

ANBio - Associação Nacional de Biossegurança

Av. Rio Branco, nº 37 Grupo 507, Centro - Rio de Janeiro CEP: 20090-003

Tel: (0xx21) 2220-8327 / 2220-8678-

Tel/Fax: (0xx21) 2215-8580

Email:

Website: http://www.anbio.org.br/site/