What they found, they say, was the first discovery in the United States of wild canola plants with modified genes.
Meredith Schafer presented the findings at a recent meeting of the Ecological Society of America.
The scientists found canola plants in almost half of the places they investigated. They tested a total of two hundred eighty-eight plants. They found that eighty percent of those plants contained genes from genetically engineered canola.
Some crop plants are modified to resist damage from the chemicals that farmers spray to kill weeds. There are two proteins that can give canola the ability to resist two commonly used herbicides. One protein gives resistance against glyphosate. The other protein gives resistance against glufosinate.
Two of the plants growing in the wild showed resistance to both kinds of weed killers. Professor Sagers says canola varieties with these genetic qualities have not been released on the market. This suggests the result of wild populations reproducing on their own.
And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. You can read and listen to all of our programs and get podcasts at voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Mario Ritter.
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25