GM crops: timeline
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Key events in the development of GM crops in the USA and attempts to introduce them to Britain and Europe.
1976
US company Monsanto launches its herbicide Roundup.
1980
US Supreme Court rules that genetically engineered micro-organisms are patentable. Spinks report recommends UK Government investment in biotechnology research.
1981
US Office of Technology Assessment recommends investment in developing GM crops, and predicts that salt-tolerant and nitrogen-fixing crops will be developed.
1983
First GM tobacco plant created.
1984
The First Framework Programme (1984–1987) introduces the long-term planning of research activities at an EU level.
1985
US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) decides that GM plants are patentable. GM crop field trials begin.
1987
The Single European Act explicitly gives the EC formal power in the fields of research and technology. UK National Seed Development Organisation and a large part of the Plant Breeding Institute sold to Unilever.
1988...
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