A new study suggest genetically modified farm crops are spreading into the wild. "A survey of North Dakota has turned up hundreds of genetically modified canola plants growing along roads across the state," Geoffrey Brumfiel of
National Public Radio reports. "The results, presented Friday at the annual meeting of the
Ecological Society of America in Pittsburgh, show that the vast majority of feral canola plants in the state contain artificial genes that make them resistant to herbicides." Cindy Sagers, an ecologist at the
University of Arkansas who led the study, said researchers found two plants that contained traits from multiple modified varieties, suggesting genetically modified plants are breeding in the wild.
"What we've demonstrated in this study is a large-scale escape of a genetically modified crop in the United States," Sager told Brumfiel. While few scientists believe that the canola plants,
right, pose an environmental risk, they say "the study highlights the ease with which some genetically modified plants can spread beyond their fields," Brumfiel writes. Canola plants are used in cooking oil, animal feed and some forms of biodiesel, and virtually all of U.S. canola is grown in North Dakota.
(N.D. Tourism photo by Heather LeMoine)
"I wouldn't lose any sleep over it," Mike Wilkinson, a researcher at
Aberystwyth University in the United Kingdom, told Brumfiel. Wilkinson, who has studied the spread of conventional canola in the U.K., said while it's common for the seedlings to spread, they don't fare well in the wild. The modified plants don't necessarily have any advantage over native plants, Wilkinson said because "in this particular case, herbicide resistance will provide little edge to plants growing in areas that, almost by definition, don't receive many herbicides," Brumfiel writes. (
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