At the end of October, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the US District Court in Washington threw out a case filed by a coalition of biotech activists, including the Alliance for Biointegrity, against the federal government in 1998 (Nat. Biotechnol. 17, 746, 1999). Referring to FDA's 1992 policy statement on Foods Derived From New Plant Varieties, the group demanded a revision of food safety laws whereby the FDA impose mandatory safety testing and labeling. “Dismissal of the case against the FDA is a huge victory for FDA and consumers,” says Michael Philips, BIO's executive director for food and agriculture, “The summary dismissal of this case upholds existing FDA policies based on a science-based regulatory system for reviewing and labeling foods improved through biotechnology.”