article_snippet: Currently, European Union regulators assume pollen from the crop, which has been manipulated to include a toxin that kills pests, can travel only 20 to 40 metres.
article_snippet: However, research suggests that significant amounts of the pollen, which harms butterflies and moths, can be carried up to 4.45 kilometres – 2.7 miles – on the wind.
article_snippet: The researchers measured the spread of pollen from maize crops over ten years at hundreds of sites in Germany, Belgium and Switzerland.
article_snippet: The researchers discovered that assumptions that maize pollen is heavy and falls to the ground over a short distance from the plants were spectacularly wrong.
article_snippet: The research found the concentration ranged from 23.3million grains of pollen per square metre close to the fields to 2,857 grains at greater distances.
article_snippet: Significant amounts of pollen were found more than 2½ miles away.
article_snippet: Previous assumptions on pollen dispersal were based on the premise that the air was still, but The researchers pointed out that these conditions are ‘practically non-existent’ in the real world.
article_snippet: The researchers said some studies suggest that the pollen can be lifted high in the air by strong winds and carried for more than 40 miles.
article_snippet: The experts, whose research was published in the journal Environmental Sciences Europe, said even small amounts of pollen containing the toxin – as little as four grains – will harm or kill sensitive butterflies and moths.
highlights_snippet: New evidence shows spread of GM pollen cloud is enormous .
  