The chief obstacle to getting GM fruits and vegetables onto the market, is the regulatory system. Hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money have supported the development of genetically modified specialty crops. Where are the results of that effort? Did all of those projects fail? Was it a waste of money? At a meeting in Washington it emerged that there was a great deal of interest in joining forces to develop products that big companies probably wouldn’t be interested in: public-good, high-value items, that don’t necessarily have sufficient dollar value to generate industry interest in terms of profit but would be good for the environment, for society and for human health.