Swiss authorities give green light for GM potato trial

The Federal Office for the Environment in Switzerland says scientists can carry out crop trials involving genetically modified (GM) potatoes that are resistant to the vegetable’s biggest threat – late blight – at a site near Zurich. It announced on Tuesday that teams from the Agroscope research centre would be allowed to start planting the potatoes from next week at its site at Reckenholz, near Zurich. The GM field experiments should run until 2019 at the latest. GM trials remain controversial in Switzerland, however. The field will be protected by security guards, fences and cameras. More