Let’s visit the paper by Ayyadurai and Deonikar, published in Agricultural Sciences, a journal I’ve never heard of, and a journal with no actual impact factor. The publisher is Scientific Research, which is on the 2014 list of predatory publishers.
The work, entitled, “Do GMOs Accumulate Formaldehyde and Disrupt Molecular Systems Equilibria? Systems Biology May Provide Answers” was recently published, and one look is all you need to see agenda and bias, and a new dookie in the collection of peer-reviewed (by what peer I don’t possibly know) journal papers that will be held up as conclusive evidence against agricultural biotechnology.
How does systems biology work? It is a computational approach where a series of inputs, usually data from published work that are matched in silico to generate new hypotheses. It is a way to make predictions based on integrating existing data, and then statistically deriving a likelihood that the predictions may be correct. The predictions can then be tested and the systems approach validated.
Now when a systems model does not match what we know, it says that the model is wrong. If the model puts Munich in the Gulf of Mexico, it says STOP, rethink the input data, assumptions or the algorithm itself. If I’m the scientist, I don’t publish that flawed model, I go back to the drawing board, look at my inputs and assumptions and start over.
But It Says Formaldehyde…
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This outcome is likely exactly what the authors wanted to see, and allowed them to publish a verbose, poorly-written, goofy paper that serves an important political purpose to advance at least one of the author’s interests.
The bottom line is, corn is probably the most biochemically dissected plants in terms of composition. Soy too. There is no evidence ever published or otherwise reported in a legit place that shows a difference in formaldehyde between GM and non-GM varieties of anything. These authors could have tested their prediction, and maybe they did, but there is no evidence of formaldehyde ever reported.
Munich is not in the Gulf of Mexico.
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: Munich is Not by Florida; No Formaldehyde in Corn
