Going slow on terminators
Biotechnology giant Monsanto has said that it would not commercialise the so-called "terminator' gene technology. The technology prevents plants from producing fertile seeds, forcing farmers to buy more seed rather than using seed from the previous year's crop.
In a letter to Gordon Conway, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, the New York-based charitable organisation, Monsanto said: "We are doing this based on inputs from you and a wide range of other experts and stakeholders, including our very important grower constituency.'
But some experts feel that Monsanto may have taken this decision fearing that farmers in the US may switch away from genetically-modified (GM) seed. People in Europe are resisting GM food.