Abstract
The quality of diets in rodent feeding trials is crucial. We describe the contamination with environmental pollutants of 13 laboratory rodent diets from 5 continents. Measurements were performed using accredited methodologies. All diets were contaminated with pesticides (1-6 out of 262 measured), heavy metals (2-3 out of 4, mostly lead and cadmium), PCDD/Fs (1-13 out of 17) and PCBs (5-15 out of 18). Out of 22 GMOs tested for, Roundup-tolerant GMOs were the most frequently detected, constituting up to 48% of the diet. The main pesticide detected was Roundup, with residues of glyphosate and AMPA in 9 of the 13 diets, up to 370 ppb. The levels correlated with the amount of Roundup-tolerant GMOs. Toxic effects of these pollutants on liver, neurodevelopment, and reproduction are documented. The sum of the hazard quotients of the pollutants in the diets (an estimator of risk with a threshold of 1) varied from 15.8 to 40.5. Thus the chronic consumption of these diets can be considered at risk. Efforts toward safer diets will improve the reliability of toxicity tests in biomedical research and regulatory toxicology.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Animals
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Diet
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Environmental Pollutants / isolation & purification*
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Food Contamination / analysis
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Food, Genetically Modified / supply & distribution*
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Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
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Glycine / analogs & derivatives*
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Glycine / isolation & purification
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Glyphosate
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Herbicides / isolation & purification*
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Metals, Heavy / isolation & purification*
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Polychlorinated Biphenyls / isolation & purification*
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Rodentia
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Tandem Mass Spectrometry
Substances
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Environmental Pollutants
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Herbicides
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Metals, Heavy
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Polychlorinated Biphenyls
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Glycine
Grants and funding
The authors have received funding for this and earlier research from CRIIGEN, the Foundation Lea Nature and Malongo, the JMG Foundation and Foundations Charles Léopold Mayer for the Progress of Humankind, Nature Vivante, Denis Guichard, Institute Bio Forschung Austria, and the Sustainable Food Alliance. The laboratory received funding from Sevene Pharma in the last five years to study the detoxifying capacity of plant extracts on Roundup residues, bisphenol A and atrazin. Prof Seralini participated in and received payment for a lecture organized by Sevene Pharma.