Fancy comprehensive surveys need to recognise confounding factors before solid conclusions can be drawn

Animal studies of toxicology issues are challenging. It turns out that “Omics studies are challenging too, as shown by comments recently released:

Comments on two recent publications on GM maize and Roundup 
Dennis Eriksson, Klaus Ammann, Bruce Chassy & Aakash Chawade  Scientific Reports volume 8, Article number: 13338 (2018)

Two -omics studies on genetically modified maize and Roundup-fed rats, recently published in the journal Scientific Reports, contain serious flaws in the experimental design, methodology and interpretation of results, which we point out here. The use of -omics technologies are of increasing importance in research, however we argue for a cautious approach to the potential application in food safety assessments as these exceptionally sensitive and complex methods require a thorough and detailed evaluation of the biological significance of obtained results. Arising from: Mesnage et al. Sci Rep 7:39328 (2017), Mesnage et al. Sci Rep 6:37855 (2016).

Link  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-30440-7>