GM corn

From yesterday's WSJ by Scott Kilman (paid subscription required):

Monsanto Co. was cleared by regulators to begin selling the first corn plant genetically modified to resist the rootworm insect, which could be a big product for the ailing biotechnology company as well as a headache for the U.S. food industry.

Wall Street analysts figure Monsanto, based in St. Louis, will be able to command a steep premium for seed that produces a corn plant capable of repelling the rootworm, the biggest pest faced by growers of the nation's largest crop....

The genetically modified plant isn't approved for consumption in the European Union , an important market for U.S. corn byproducts. The European Union's de facto four-year-long moratorium on new genetically modified crops has significantly restrained sales of Monsanto's herbicide-tolerant corn plant and helped deflate the crop-biotechnology boom that lifted the company in the mid-1990s.