Canola that is genetically modified to be resistant to two herbicides is growing along roadsides in North Dakota, according to a New York Times blog post by Andrew Pollack.

Even though critics of biotech crops point to the situation as "gene pollution," Pollack said the finding may not be a problem at all. And if it is a problem, he wrote, "It’s because a canola plant growing outside of a canola field – on a road or in a field of wheat, for example – could be considered a weed."

The study, presented at a recent meeting of the Ecological Society of America, is based on a sampling of 604 canola plants collected by a University of...