The Ministry of Health's investigation into a controversial US-backed genetically modified rice research project in Hunan province raises a wider set of questions than just the use of GM seeds to increase crop yields, because the researchers are alleged to have fed students GM rice as part of an experiment without their or their parents' knowledge.

The research was backed by the US National Institute of Health and the US Department of Agriculture, according to an article published in the August edition of the Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The answers to all the questions that the Ministry of Health-ordered investigation raises are not yet known. GM seed makers say there is no proof that their seeds will harm human health, but a host of geneticists and ecologists across the world say there is no proof that GM seeds will not harm humans.