Clash over GM trial a foretaste of worse to come

A spat over plans to grow genetically modified maize near an organic research centre in Warwickshire ended on 21 May with the biotechnology and organic farming industries both backing down. The passionate arguments provoked by the episode were a warning of the explosive dispute which awaits the Government next year when the present GM farm-scale trials end and decisions have to be taken on whether to allow commercial growing of GM crops and how to protect other types of farming from contamination.