Question: Are you scared of a day of the triffids event occurring due to genetically modified plants?

Nikolai Adamski answered on 10 Mar 2015:

Never heard of triffids before, but no I’m not scared of that. At least not yet 🙂
We’ve been modifying the genomes of plants for 10,000 years using different methods. All modern plants are the result of profound modifications of their genomes, resulting in plants with better agronomical traits. If you compare modern crops to their ancestral species, the effect become very clear.
For example:
Look at Maize and its ancestor teosinte. Or compare modern carrots with wild species. Brussels sprouts, Kale, Broccoli, cauliflower (and many more) all originate from the same species (Brassica oleracea) asically a flower and doesn’t look anything like a crop.
Many modern plant varieties have been created using radioactivity, i.e. you expose seeds to radioactive waves (gamma or x-rays), which causes new mutations and ultimately new traits/features. Your cabbage, broccoli (and the other cabbages) and all your pasta are the result of “radioactive breeding”. This method is not very precise.
The tools to modify a genome (plants, animals and bacteria) are constantly getting better. The latest tools (called TALENs) use enzymes from certain bacteria (Xanthomonas) to edit a very specific bit of a genome, i.e. take out a few nucleotides or add a few in.
Tl:dr
The more precise our tools for modifying plants are, the less likely the triffids become as scientists can control how a plant is modified and what effect this modification will have. To get a plant to walk around and attack people with venom would require quite substantial changes, e.g. venom glands, legs, etc.
Hope that answers your question
cheers
nikolai