1.   The first such patent has recently been granted by the European Patent Office to a Belgian company for any crop resistant to the herbicide Basta.

2.   Greenpeace says that farmers will thus be tied into an agricultural system dependent on chemicals by making it attractive for them to buy herbicides in tandem with resistant crops.

3.   It is held at bay with large applications of fungicide, and attempts to breed more resistant crops have achieved only partial success.

4.   Crops more resistant to salt need to be developed if the trend is to be reversed, Blumwald said.

5.   The United States argues that the creation of drought- and insect- resistant crops through genetic manipulation ensures greater food security.