GM canola and soybean roadside monitoring in Japan
Date: 7 August 2023
Unintended release of Genetically Modified (GM) plants into natural environment during transportation is still public interest through there is more than 25 years history of safe use.
Ministry of Agriculture, Forest and Fisheries (MAFF) in Japan has conducted a survey along roadside near ports from 2006 to address such a concern from public.
On June 30, MAFF published a result of roadside monitoring survey for canola and soybean.
MAFF conducted the monitoring at 8 ports for canola and 1 ports for soybean in 2022. Wild relatives of these crops were also investigated.
Genetically modified canola was found at 8 ports (89 plants). There was no evidence of cross pollination from GM canola to Brassica juncea or B. rapa that are relative species of canola naturally grow in Japan.
Also, genetically modified soybean was found at 1 port (3 plants). There was no outcrossing between GM soybean and Glycine soja that is wild relative of soybean.
MAFF concluded that there is no evidence that transgenes from GM canola or soybean spread through outcrossing into relative species or expansion of GM plants in Japanese environment.