ABSTRACT
The discovery of herbicide-resistant weeds in the early 1970s has triggered plant scientists into developing strategies, both chemical and non-chemical, to manage and minimize the spread of resistance genes. This fast-growing serious fi eld problem has been mitigated, at least to a limited extent so far, by the simultaneous progress in molecular genetics that has enabled incorporation of genes from unrelated organisms into a susceptible crop. This means that plant scientists have taken a giant step by moving away from linking chemistry of a herbicide to biology of the crop to adapting biology to chemistry. The consequent development of transgenic herbicide-resistant (THR) crops in preference to traditional development of herbicide-resistant crops of the past has unintentionally led to a fi erce debate in favor of, and against, the introduction and commercialization of the genetically modifi ed crops.
