Tomiko Yamaguchi Department of Sociology & Anthropology International Christian University

1. Reporting the Facts or Creating Controversies?Paper Presented at the Towards STS Networking in the Asia-Pacific WorkshopDecember 2008, Wellington, New Zealand Tomiko Yamaguchi Department of Sociology & Anthropology International Christian University Acknowledgement Biosafety Division, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research Council, The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan

2. Research Question • How does the mass media communicate essentials of a controversy that involves scientific knowledge concerning the safety of food? • Does the mass media simply report facts? Or does the mass media fail to report scientific discussions accurately – a criticism leveled by scientists?

3. Research Question • Fundamental question is whether the problems in media coverage of food safety can be attributed to a deficit in scientific knowledge. i.e., the “scientific deficit model”

4. A Conceptual Model • Framing of the news • An enrollment of actors and actants • scientists, scientific studies, government committees  facts • Structural constraints that led the mass media to construct a particular discourse of food safety

5. Methods • Interviews • Freelance journalist • Editorialists • national newspaper • news agency • TV network • News reporter • major newspaper • News agency • Producer; TV program • Participant observation • at the press conferences • governmental meetings

6. Significance of the Study • Various technological innovations in food e.g., functional foods, food irradiation, nanofood, • The role and influences of mass media on the perception of consumers toward food safety • An increased attention in the public policy arena e.g., Japan’s Food Safety Commission

7. Controversies 1996: Transgenic soybeans with an inserted gene of Brazil nuts causing alleginicity 1998: Genetically engineered potatoes damaging the immune system of rats (Pusztai Study) 1999: Influences of transgenic maize producing Bt- toxin for non-target species (the Monarch butterfly) 2005: Genetically modified soya influencing on the birth weight and survival of rat pup 2007: Genetically modified maize, MON863, influencing the malformation of kidneys of rats

8. How Mass Media Communicated Controversies April 19, 2004 European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) releasing public statement about food and bio-safety of GE Maize (MON863) after reviewing a 1,139-page report submitted by Monsanto ✓May 22, 2005 TheIndependent reporting about health fears: rats fed with MON863 had smaller kidneys & high levels of white blood cells May 24, 2005 EFSA press releasing the fact that the committees have reviewed the report ✓June 24, 2005 Interpress Service News Agency wired news in Canada and the US

9. The Independent, May 22, 2005 Revealed: Health fears over secret study into GM food rats fed GM corn due for sale in Britain developed abnormalities in blood and kidneys

10. How Mass Media Communicated Controversies April 19, 2004 European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) releasing public statement about food and bio-safety of GE Maize (MON863) after reviewing a 1,139-page report submitted by Monsanto ✓May 22, 2005 TheIndependent reporting about health fears: rats fed with MON863 had smaller kidneys & high levels of white blood cells May 24, 2005 EFSA press releasing the fact that the committees have reviewed the report ✓June 24, 2005 Interpress Service News Agency wired news in Canada and the US

11. Inter Press Service News Agency, June 24, 2005 Genetically engineered maize planted in Canada and the United States, and sold in both markets, had an adverse effect on rats, according to secret Monsanto research released by a German source this week.

12. How Mass Media Communicated Controversies March 15, 2007 The European Commission requesting EFSA to examine CRII GEN study April 16, 2007 GMO Panel of Japan’s Food Safety Commission reviews the CRII GEN study ✓June 14, 2007 Kyodo News Service wires the news June 28, 2007 EFSA reaffirms the data does not raise any novel safety concerns. ✓July 11, 2007 Kyodo News Service wires the news August 3, 2007 GMO panel of Japan’s Food Safety Commission raises issues with the CRII GEN study

13. Discourse of Food Safety Concerns Might have Adverse Effects on Growth and Internal Organs: Genetically Modified Maize An independent research team in France has published a study which found malformed kidneys and unusually high levels of white blood cells in rats fed GE maize for 90 days…The French research team indicated that “these data show the possibility that MON863 may harm the kidneys and liver. Kyodo News Service, June 14, 2007

14. CRII GEN Study “New Analysis of a Rat Feeding Study with GM Maize Reveals Sings of Hepatorenal Toxicity.” published in Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology in 2006.

15. Spread of News within Japan • News wired was printed later in 41 Japanese national and regional newspapers • the majority: as-is • some altered framing

16. Discourse of Food Safety Concerns GE Maize used for Feed in Japan and for Food in Europe and US is Unsafe, according to a Study done by the French Research Team It is worrying for Japanese travelers to know that the GM maize in question are in the food chains in Europe and the US. Equally worrying is the question of whether meat from cattle fed with GM maize is safe or not… Okinawa Times, June 19, 2007

17. EFSA’s Reaffirmation • European Food Safety Agency, EFSA’s reaffirmation that the data did not raise any novel safety concerns on June 28th, 2007 • Kyodo’s news on EFSA’s reaffirmation on July 11th, 2007 • News in regional newspapers “No toxicity found by European Agency but the French Team Disagrees” (Akita Sakigakeshipo, July 12, 2007) • Announcement of Japan’s Food Safety Commission • No coverage

18. Japan’s Food Safety Commission Re-examination of the study from toxicological and statistical point of view demonstrates the conclusions of CRIIGEN study are not valid. Thus the Commission concludes there are no new evidences that demonstrates that MON863 will harm human health. August 30, 2007

19. Framing and an Enrollment of Actors

20. How the Discourse of Food Safety Concerns • Underreported or not reported • Imbalances between a large number of expressions of concerns and small number of statements by government agencies concerned • Transformation of provisional findings into certain findings • Highlighting only a fraction of knowledge • Failure to mention contextual elements  generating a sense of distrust in the governmental procedures for evaluating food safety • Omitting information on how scientific studies are conducted

21. Conclusions • A fundamental conflict between claiming to communicate accurate information by presenting facts, and claiming to cater to the needs of the public by framing the story in controversial manner.

22. Acknowledgements • Biosafety Division, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research Council, The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan