(Newswire.net — May 30, 2013) Portland, OR — While there is much in recent news and opinion expressed on the Internet, there are not currently any GMO varieties of wheat that have been approved by the USDA. Many complications associated with modern whole wheat have there origins in the long history of hybridization rather than genetic modification.
However on May 29, 2013, the Agriculture Department determined that they had found the presence of GMO wheat on a farm in Oregon. The department is currently investigating as to how it ended up in the field, was any criminal wrongdoing and whether its growth has spread beyond containment.
“We are taking this very seriously,” said Michael Firko of the Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
Oregon Department of Agriculture Director Katy Coba said in a statement that the discovery is “a very serious development that could have major trade ramifications.” The state exports about 90 percent of its wheat
Indeed this discovery clearly has implications beyond the economy in Oregon. If it is determined that U.S. wheat industry has been contaminated then are serious problems for the entire U.S. economy. Many countries around the world will not accept imports of genetically modified foods, and now all U.S. wheat commercially grown wheat is suspect.
There are at least five serious ramifications from this:
#1) Monsanto can now sue all the farms where GM wheat has been found growing. According to U.S. federal courts, those farmers have “stolen” Monsanto’s intellectual property.
#2) The spread of GM wheat from experimental fields to wheat production fields is proof that GMOs cause genetic pollution — self-replicating pollution with the potential to devastate global food production.
#3) All wheat produced in the United States will now be heavily scrutinized — and possibly even rejected — by other nations that traditionally import U.S. wheat. This obviously has enormous economic implications for U.S. farmers and agriculture.
#4) It proves the USDA cannot control the GMO field experiments it approves. Open-field experiments are not “safe” nor “controlled.” They are experiments conducted in the open air, where genetic pollution is an inevitable result. The genetic pollution that began in 1998 can’t be put back into the box in 2013…
#5) U.S. consumers who eat wheat products are right now almost certainly ingesting some level of genetically modified wheat. This level may currently be very small — perhaps even less than 1% — but it is yet another source of GMO pollution in the food supply that could hugely impact Americans’ grocery shopping decisions.
USDA officials have declined to speculate as to whether the modified seeds blew into the field from a testing site or if they were somehow planted or taken there, and they would not identify the farmer or the farm’s location. The Oregon Department of Agriculture said the field is in the eastern part of the state.
This discovery could also lead to problems for organic companies as well since by law cannot use genetically engineered ingredients in its foods. Organic farmers have frequently expressed concern that genetically modified seed will blow into organic farms and contaminate their products.
In a statement issued Wednesday, Monsanto noted that this is the first report since its program was discontinued.
“While USDA’s results are unexpected, there is considerable reason to believe that the presence of the Roundup Ready trait in wheat, if determined to be valid, is very limited,” the company said.
USDA officials confirmed they have received no other reports of discoveries of genetically modified wheat. Firko and Acting Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Michael T. Scuse said they have already been in touch with international trading partners to try and assuage any concerns.
“Hopefully our trading partners will be understanding that this is not a food or feed safety issue,” Scuse said.
Sources:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/usda-says-non-approved-genetically-engineered-wheat-discovered-in-oregon-field/2013/05/29/6b140636-c892-11e2-9cd9-3b9a22a4000a_story.html
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/newsroom/2013/05/ge_wheat_detection.shtml
http://www.naturalnews.com/040541_GMO_genetic_pollution_GE_wheat.html
Author: Google+ Jan Johansen