Experimental GMO Golf Grass Found 3 Miles From Test Site [View All]

[hatrack]

Oops.

A GENETICALLY modified grass designed to improve golf courses and lawns has caused alarm in the US after escaping into the wild.
Creeping bentgrass, Agrostis stolonifera, has spread up to three miles outside a test site in Oregon with nine different plants being identified.

It had been modified to make it impervious to the herbicide glysophate and was designed to appeal to golf course managers who would be able to spray large areas to kill off weeds without damaging the grass. Homeowners were considered another lucrative market because it could help them to create perfect lawns in front of their houses.

The US Department of Agriculture has ordered a full environmental audit of its impact and spread to determine the threat to wildlife. Unlike GM crops such as maize and soybeans, which are annuals and unable to reproduce, the perennial grass was able to produce seeds during outdoor tests.

Some of the plants found outside the test site, reports New Scientist, had grown from seeds produced by the GM parent. Others were hybrids derived from a non-GM plant being pollinated by one of the modified specimens.

EDIT

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2306060,00.html