3 Comments

  1. So glyphosate is in Senomyx’s Fetal Flavor Enhancers”.

  2. UnyieldingLogic says:

    The Sherbrooke study is a good example of bad science.

    From the published paper: “A standard curve was prepared by successive dilutions (0.1–10 ng/ml) of purified Cry1Ab protein (Fitzgerald Industries International, North Acton,MA, USA) in PBST buffer.”

    From Table 1 of the paper: ” Cry1Ab Mean ± SD (ng/ml) Pregnant women 0.19 ± 0.30 Non-pregnant women 0.13 ± 0.37″

    1) The standard curve should be prepared in a solution with similar properties as the sample, i.e. if the samples are serum than the standard curve should be made in spiked serum samples.

    2) The detected means are at the very bottom of the range of the standard curve. For accurate measurements, values should fall in the middle of the standard curve. The people doing the work should have used a lower dilution or made a different standard curve.

    3) The standard deviations are larger than the means themselves, and in both cases extend the error range below zero! This basically means that the researchers didn’t detect anything reliably.

    4) The ELISA kit used to detect Cry1Ab was designed for use with plant samples, not human serum. For anyone who knows anything about matrix effects of samples, this is a huge red flag. I.e. the kit has not be validated to be accurate with human blood or serum samples.

    Moral of the story, Christina Sarich didn’t read the paper and has no idea what she is talking about. And frankly, neither do the authors of the research. It should never have made it past the peer-review stage. But alas mistakes happen.

  3. since Bt toxin detected…is that surprising ? Isn’t Bt toxin both natural, and used on organic produce as a pesticide.
    just say, detecting and being a problem are two different things. Lead is likely detectable in every person, but that doesn’t make it a risk.
    To often writers on these topics don’t have science or risk backgrounds, but do seem well versed in painting a picture they would like others to see.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *