#3056: Don Huber

 

Don M. Huber is a former Purdue University professor and current anti-GMO activist who (at least until relatively recently) were doing extensive publicity tours sponsored by various organic, alternative health and anti-GMO interest groups to spread misinformation and conspiracy theories about genetically modified organisms. Huber is particularly focused on how glyphosate and herbicide tolerant GM crops are allegedly causing health problems in people and animals, and is most famous for his claims to have discovered, years ago, a novel pathogenic microbe that has been caused by agricultural genetic engineering and which is currently wreaking havoc on humans and animals. There is, of course, no shred of evidence to back up that claim – Huber himself has no peer reviewed publications on it and he has consistently refused to make his ‘data’ available for any other scientist to assess.

 

But Huber has long claimed that glyphosate and GMO herbicide tolerant crops are linked to human and animal health risks. According to Huber and not the data, animals fed GM crops are dying in record numbers, and there is a correlation between GM soy/corn and inflammatory bowel disease in humans (he tends to point out that correlation doesn’t imply causation, before launching into wild inferences about causation from correlations that don’t exist outside his own mind). He also claims that glyphosate is linked to alzheimer’s disease, gout, diabetes, Parkinson’s, allergies and fertility issues. He cites no scientific evidence for these claims, but does cite rants and claims by Gilles-Eric Séralini and infamous Maharishi-movement yogic flying instructor Jeffrey M. Smith.

 

Huber has collaborated with familiar anti-GMO activist researchers like Judy Carman and Jack Heinemann, and appears in a prominent role in the Gary Null-produced conspiracy flick Seeds of Death.

 

Diagnosis: Another one-time scientist who has gone full pseudoscientific crackpot (and scaremonger) in his olden days. Some grow wisdom; others, we suppose, lose any concern they might have had for evidence, accuracy or accountability. He’s pretty old, but we’re sure there are plenty of others ready to fill his shoes.

 

Hat-tip: Geneticliteracyproject