Wheat grown near the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident is six times more likely to show mutations than wheat grown just 19 miles away, according to a study by a team of scientists in Ukraine, Britain, and Switzerland. The research, published in the journal Nature, suggests that radiation may push crops and other plants toward faster-than-expected evolutionary changes, potentially altering food quality, hardiness, and pest resistance, some scientists said. “It’s kind of a warning signal that we’ve got to worry a little bit about plants’ genetic stability as the world continues to be filled with things that aren’t good for DNA,” said John Hays, a molecular biologist at Oregon State University.
