A former head of the department for risk assesment with Food Standards Australia New Zealand, Professor Andrew Bartholomaeus says the republication of an article linking genetically modified crops with cancer could have public health consequences.

A study by French scientist Gilles Seralini that purported to show rats developing large cancerous tumours after eating GM corn was withdrawn by the respected science journal Food and Chemical Toxicology late last year.

It has since been republished in another journal, Environmental Sciences Europe.

Professor Bartholomaeus is now with the Pharmacy School of Canberra University.

He's concerned the article could lead to vandal attacks on GM trial crops like that on 'golden rice' in the Philippines last year.

"Golden rice contains vitamin A and vitamin A is yellow which gives the rice that colour, hence the name.

"And it's being developed to give away free to some of the poorest communities in the Philippines where they have chronic vitamin A deficiencies.

"That results in chronic disease and premature death in children who're already living in the most desperate of circumstances."

"And that unconscionable vandalism has set back that program by some period of time and it has prevented those benefits being taken to the people who have the greatest need."

But the issue could be as much about how the scientific community actually communicates its research with the public.

Associate Professor Peter Deardon is the director of genetics at the University of Otago in New Zealand.

He accepts the main criticism of the study was the methodology used to arrive at its conclusions, but questions if retracting the article in the first place, was in the best interests of science.

"The republication of the Seralini study raises a number of important issues to do with the scientific process.

"The results did need to be replicated with larger numbers of rats in experiments and perhaps a more statistically robust analysis.

"I remain unconvinced the original paper indicates any danger of GM food but I do think the research needs to continue."

Professor Dearden also says his profession has to tread a fine line when it comes to the development of genetically modified crops and needs to balance the needs of partnering with business and industry to do so.

"If we suddenly found some magical new way of producing a crop that had boosted its nutritional value or something, then the only way we're going to get that knowledge out there is by partnering with those companies.

"So we have to find a way to keep a distance between the commercial imperative and the scientific advice. And that's really tricky."