[Truefood Network 05 June 2012] -- Genetically Engineered (GE) oilseed rape, or GE canola, was recently found growing in Switzerland where nobody actually cultivates it. Switzerland has in fact had a GE moratoriumin place since 2005 and the import of GE crops in foodstuffs and animal feed is prohibited. So where did the GE canola come from? The GE canola was found growing wild in Basel’s port area. It is suspected that the canola seeds fell to the ground during the transit of barges or freight trains. Greenpeace Switzerland tested 136 canola plants and found 29 that tested positive for GE, all of which were Monsanto´s herbicide-tolerant canola, GT73 (also called RT73). This was not the first time GE contamination has happened through a port area. In 2005 Japanese researchers found that GE canola had escaped into the wild from major shipping ports along the Japanese coast. There is no canola cultivated in Japan, but feral (plants that grow in the wild without cultivation) GE canola is growing in many locations around the ports and roadsides from spillages of imported GE canola from Canada. Japanese farmers and consumers have been testing and removing feral GE canola ever since. In Japan, farmers are concerned that radish, broccoli, mustard and non-GE canola may have been cross-pollinated with GE canola.