A University of Illinois study indicates that the controversy surrounding genetically modified crops and foods will be central in World Trade Organization talks that begin later this month and possibly will dominate the negotiations.

Tom Steever, a broadcast services producer for the American Farm Bureau Federation, says the study was conducted to examine the economics and politics of genetically modified products. Steever says the resistance in Europe to the technology "creates some trade complexity" for U.S. farmers.

"They're used to fighting against other farmers, fighting against European farmers to get their products into Europe and Japan," says University of Illinois agricultural economist David Bullock, one of the study researchers. "That's not what's going on here. They've got a different political opponent (European consumers)."

The study, funded with a grant from the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture, indicates that the GMO issue may become a major part of the WTO talks. "The genetically modified organism controversy threatens to take main stage," says researcher leader Jerry Nelson of the University's Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics. "The concern is: does the rest of the trade liberalization discussion get swamped or can we find ways to continue with those discussions and move the GMO controversies a bit to the side?"