It’s no big deal that crop genes get into wild populations.

CROP GENES IN THE WILD CAN CAUSE TROUBLE — NOT ALL THE TIME — BUT ON OCCASION. Ellstrand maintains there’s no fundamental difference between genes transferred from genetic engineering and genes that are transferred by other means, such as traditional breeding. Europe’s “weed beet” that has cost its sugar industry over a billion dollars in lost product is the result of natural hybridization between a wild beet species and (non-GMO) sugarbeet.