Study of a Biotech Plant Finds Pollen Can Travel Farther than
Thought This is Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English
AGRICULTURE REPORT. Wind plays an important part in the
reproduction of many crops. In some cases, though, the effect
can be surprising. A study recently appeared in the Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences. This study involved a
genetically engineered kind of grass. Scientists found that
pollen from the grass spread up to twenty one kilometers to
fertilize other grasses. This was true of plants grown for the
experiment. The scientists say they found similar evidence of
gene flow in wild plants up to fourteen kilometers away. Earlier
studies of genetically engineered plants had found pollination
at distances of one kilometer or less. Scientists from the
United States Environmental Protection Agency led the new study
in the state of Oregon. The team planted a kind of grass
engineered to resist RoundUp, a poison that kills weeds. Two
companies, Monsanto and Scotts, developed this kind