On Thu, 5 Jan 2006, Wouter van Ooijen wrote:

>> Most GM and other 'supplied' seed plants are incapable of
>> reproduction in the 2nd generation (the one that ends up on the
> fields).
>
> That probably means only 1 in 10^X will reproduce, but for which value
> of X?

I think that you do not realize the magnitude of the problem. Most 
plants are capable of cross-polination with even farther removed 
relatives. The USDA has regulations for how far a GM soybean field must 
be from other soybean fields to avoid natural c.p. With other plants 
this is not so simple. The problem is not the plants on the field where 
everyone is looking, but in a truck's tyres and air filter as it leaves 
the field and goes elsewhere. The case noted in the article with which I 
started the thread did not mention any danger from the GM crop itself. 
It was the *weeds* on the edge of the GM field that started showing 
surprizing vigor.

Peter
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