GM Canola Found Growing Wild in North Dakota

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.Genetically modified canola endowed with herbicide resistance has escaped from a farm in North Dakota and has been found growing outside of established cultivation regions along roadside across the state, according to a new study published in the journal PLoS ONE.

The researchers said the "escaped" plants accounted for 45% of the total roadside plants sampled in the state. The also said the plants could hybridize with each other to create novel combinations of transgenic traits.

The authors said the result, more than 10 years after the initial release of genetically engineered canola, "raises questions of whether adequate oversight and monitoring protocols are in place in the U.S. to track the environmental impact of biotech products." However, they also noted biotechnology can provide important tools to feed the rapidly growing population. "We must safely engage all tools available to us to advance food, fuel and fiber alternatives as modern agriculture rises to the challenges of the next decade," they concluded.

"More than half of the earth's terrestrial landscape is managed in cultivated crops or forage species," says lead researcher Cynthia Sagers, "yet we have little understanding of how domesticated plants influence their wild relatives. This study is a first step in addressing these questions by documenting that domesticated species have a life outside of cultivated fields."