The corn next door

Faced with calls from organic farmers, environmentalists and other geneticallymodified crop opponents, the county commissioners of Boulder, Colorado, have appointed a panel to draw up a good neighbour policy to help organic and GM growers peacefully coexist on the county's large stretch of public land. Amid fears GM pollen could contaminate organic crop, a study at the Colorado State University concluded that a buffer zone of 150 feet could ensure a less than 1% inadvertent or adventitious, presence of GM pollen or other materials in non-GM corn crops. So far the plan has worked well.