The BBC's Palab Ghosh: "Concern regarding the safety of all GM foods"

In a letter to the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday, 19 Fellows of the Royal Society said "it is a dangerous mistake ... to assume that all statements claiming to be scientific can be taken at face value".

Professor Patrick Bateson, biological secretary of the Royal Society: Scientists do get it wrong

It is the strongest rebuke yet from within the scientific community to the group of food researchers who published a report on 12 February seeking to legitimise the work of Dr Arpad Pusztai.

Dr Pusztai was fired by the Rowett Research Institute last year for revealing to the media his findings that rats fed on GM potatoes suffered damage to their vital organs.

The researchers' report sparked calls for a moratorium on GM studies and a ban on the sale of gene-altered foods.

Dr Arpad Pusztai: Fears over GM potatoes

The Fellows who signed the Telegraph letter - among them, Nobel prize winner Dr Max Perutz, and Director General of Imperial Cancer Research Dr Paul Nurse - are unhappy with what they see as the irresponsible manner in which Dr Pusztai's fears were made public.

They believe that such research should have been checked by colleagues and published in a scientific journal for debate to ensure a distinction between "good science and bad science".

Earl of Selbourne, Royal Geographical Society: Peer review is the gold standard of science

"Good science is work that has stood up to detailed scrutiny by independent workers and contributes to new knowledge and understanding," the letter said.

Failure to handle research in this way only served to "mislead, with potentially very damaging consequences".