The first commercially grown genetically modified food crop was a tomato created by California company in the early 1990s.
Called the FlavrSavr, it was genetically altered so that it took longer to decompose after being picked.
A variety of the tomato was used to make tomato puree that was sold in Europe in the mid-1990s, before controversy erupted over GM crops.
Labour announced farm scale trials of GM crops starting in 1999 to study the effects crops engineered to be resistant to herbicide - allowing one, powerful dose to be used - might have on farmland wildlife.
In September 1999, pollen from GM oilseed rape, grown at a trial site in Oxfordshire, was found at beehives 2.8 miles away. The research was carried out by experts at the Britain's National Pollen Research Unit.
Then in May 2000, honey on sale in supermarkets was found to be contaminated with GM pollen from British crop trials. Two out of nine samples show contamination.
In 2004, the then Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett told the Commons that the Government was approving the commercial planting of GM maize for animal feed.
The decision to allow new trials was seen as a move to set the GM bandwagon rolling again in Britain now that the controversy is less fevered.
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