Biotechnology companies, who argue they could help solve the global food crisis, are hoping for a boost on Wednesday as regulators attempt to overcome the deadlock over growing genetically modified food in the European Union. With just one crop, an insect-resistant maize, approved for cultivation in the past decade and after several governments instituted GM bans in recent months, in violation of EU law, the European Commission has called for a rethink of the process. Commissioners are to thrash out a policy tomorrow, in what campaigners on both sides say could be a decisive moment for the industry. The Commission has generally backed biotech products but been foiled by national governments, wary of the lack of public appetite for them. Stavros Dimas, the environment commissioner in charge of approvals, last year advocated blocking two new types of maize, claiming that they might damage the environment but not human health. Jos