Overview
- Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology withdrew the Williams–Kroes–Munro review after editor Martin van den Berg cited ethical breaches tied to Monsanto’s undisclosed drafting assistance.
- The retraction notice reports that key assessments relied solely on unpublished Monsanto studies and omitted other long-term research available at the time.
- Internal documents released in U.S. litigation showed corporate ghostwriting, with emails indicating Monsanto staff helped craft the paper.
- The review became widely cited in research and by regulators; two authors are deceased, and the editor received no reply from the surviving author when notified.
- Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018, says the company’s input did not meet authorship criteria and was acknowledged, while investigators Naomi Oreskes and Alexander Kaurov had requested the retraction earlier this year.