U.S. growers of genetically engineered crops could get a boost this week, when the World Trade Organization rules on a complaint from the Americans that Europe has been illegally placing restrictions on crop imports. According to a story in the New York Times, the WTO is expected to release a judgment this week, favoring the U.S.

Public opinion in Europe – as well as countries in Africa and Asia – is largely opposed to genetically engineered food, and campaigns against GMOs abroad have been hugely successful. Here in the the U.S., opinion is more mixed, and some critics of GMOs are opposed to the corporate control of crops rather than to the process of genetically modifiying food. Genetic modification of food can run the gamut from simply turning already occurring genes on or off, to inserting genes from one species into another.

In its complaint to the WTO, the U.S. – along with Argentina and Canada – claimed that Europe had instituted a moratorium on approving new GM foods, in violation of an international treaty. European officials denied the charge.

For a good primer on GMOs, the science and the controversy, click here.

Photo credit: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations