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Friday, October 7, 2011

GMO in the wild

One of the fears of those of us who grow organically is that GMO crops will escape into the wild and cross-pollinate with native species and garden plants and produce. Fortunately, for those of us in Europe, the EU has been fairly robust (though not always as vigorous as might be hoped) in resisting some of the advances of GMO.

Had I not been on a trip to Canada, I may never have seen this, but here it comes:

"Genetically modified canola has escaped from the farm and is thriving in the wild across North Dakota, according to a study that indicates there are plenty of novel man-made genes crossing the Canada-U.S. border.

GM canola was found growing everywhere from ditches to parking lots, the scientists report, with some of the highest densities along a trucking route into Canada."

Read the full story in the Vancouver Sun (if you can get hold of the printed version there is a picture worth a thousand words). Genetically modified canola goes wild


2 comments:

myonlyphoto said...

The problem with canola is that no bug wants to touch it .... that is why we have so much here in Canada on the shelves. I don't use it at all at home as it is heavily processed oil, because it smells when compressed, they have to treat to remove the smell.

To add to this story, I am not sure if it was canola, but it was some kind of seed ...

One plant species from one farmer escaped over the fence to the other. Because it was genetically modified plant species, the originator sued the guy who ended up with free unwanted plants growing in this farm. I think it happened here in Canada.

Hope all is well otherwise.

Anna :)

Anonymous said...

I hope the guy who got the unwanted GMO was successful when he sued, legal costs could, albeit through self-interest, promote some wiser counsel to prevail.
All good here Anna, thank you, hope it is with you also. Mrs Soggy and I return to UK tomorrow after a wonderful time across Canada with family and friends, finishing off here in BC. Look out for posts of the jungle our garden may have become whilst away!