Lead by Dr. Cynthia L. Sagers, professor of biology at the University of Arkansas, the results of the study were presented at the annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America.
The study involved graduate students traveling over 3,000 miles of road in North Dakota, "stopping every five miles and taking a sample of one canola plant if there were any growing."
The study found that of "the 604 plants collected, 80 percent were genetically engineered." Some of the plants were Roundup Ready or engineered with a "gene conferring resistance to Roundup, also known as glyphosate. Others were Liberty Link crops, with a gene conferring resistance to glufosinate." Additionally, two plants were found to have "genes conferring resistance to both herbicides, suggesting that the crops resistant to each herbicide had mated."
While genetically engineered grasses have been found growing wild, gentetically engineered corn and soybeans "have not established themselves in the wild, even though they are grown on far more acres than canola." Norman Ellstrand, a professor of genetics at the University of California, Riverside, said that corn and soybeans are not likely to grow in the wild because they are "superdomesticated."
To read the New York Times story, click here.
Posted: 08/11/2010
