The New Zealand and Australian food safety regulator has rejected a study which suggested a new type of genetically modified food poses threat to people's health.
In March, Professor Jack Heinemann from Canterbury University wrote a paper saying Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) was approving plants which had been modified using double-stranded RNA for consumption, without proving they were safe.
Now the agency has published a report saying the risk posed by dsRNA is negligible, especially given the molecules occur naturally in unmodified plants.
But Dr Heinemann says FSANZ is relying on assumptions instead of seeking evidence.
