Wheat field in Oregon. Photo by Gary Halvorson Oregon State Archives [Attribution], via Wikimedia Commons |
In May 2013, US regulators announced
that Roundup(herbicide)-resistant wheat had been found growing on a
farm in Oregon: analysis confirmed it contained Monsanto's modified
genes.
Commercial GM wheat development was discontinued in 2006 at the request of the wheat industry, plus an international threat to boycott American wheat. However, between 1998 and 2005, over a hundred test sites of Roundup-resistant wheat were grown in 16 US states. It is a full eight years since the last field trial of this GM wheat was grown in Oregon.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA)
claims it has no other reports of such contamination, nor any
evidence that GM wheat has entered the market place.
Such gene contamination is a sensitive
issue in America. The country exports half of its wheat, and Oregon
exports 90 percent. GM wheat hasn't been approved anywhere in the
world. A contaminated shipment, therefore, risks being turned back
at the port of entry.
As soon as the news broke, testing was
stepped up in the European Union, Japan cancelled orders for wheat
from suspect sources, and US wheat prices dropped 4.5 percent.
Reaction in the US was disbelief:
“This is impossible ... this is so improbable, this has got to be a bad test” (wheat commission report).
American farmers first concerns are
their customers' confidence and the possibility of expensive new
testing requirements. Already, three class actions have been filed
against Monsanto for financial losses, for failing to protect the
wheat market, and for field-testing GM wheat in the full knowledge
that contamination was possible. Monsanto predictably dismissed the
rogue genes as an “isolated event”. Regulators rushed to
reassure the market that “this is not a food or feed safety issue”.
The timing of this gene pollution in a
staple crop is particularly unfortunate, because US consumers are
showing increasing interest in avoiding GM foods and demands for
labelling are high on the agenda in many states.
Add to this that America is just
recovering from its part in the global pollution of the rice market.
Liberty(herbicide)-resistant GM rice was found contaminating the US
long grain rice supply five years after small experimental
field trials at a single site. The rogue genes in its wheat supply
have come to light eight years down the line.
The Organic Consumers' Association
asked:
“How many other unknown instances of contamination have occurred but have yet to be discovered?”
Most artificial DNA won't
be obvious unless someone tests for it: nobody's testing and, once in
the environment, it won't go away. Since gene pollution equals loss
of profits, and possibly reduced land values, farmers finding any
such signs in their fields are more likely to cover it up than do
what the Oregon farmer did.
The Oregon story might be the tip of a
GM polluted iceberg. Despite attempts to portray its biotech wheat
programme as having closed down, Monsanto is still doing field tests
of experimental GM wheat today in North Dakota and Hawaii. There are
also hundreds of other GM field trials currently being conducted in
every region of America.
OUR COMMENT
Every gene, every cell, and every plant is a self-replicating entity. It's not possible for the GM wheat in a field in Oregon to be an “isolated event”: the GM plants must have come from other GM plants and must have been breeding for most, if not all, of the eight years since the field trials.No matter how you look at it, GM is a time-bomb, no matter how bright the GM picture painted by the UK Government might look (see WHEN NON-NEWS IS BAD NEWS - News, April 2013).
Make sure biotech crops are kept OUT of British fields
SOURCES:
- Unlicensed GM Wheat Contaminates US Farm, GM Freeze Release, 30.05.13
- Monsanto's GM research Wheat: Never Been Approved or Marketed But Still Contaminates US Farm, GM Education, 31.05.13
- Genetically modified wheat found in Oregon field raises trade concerns, Guardian 29.05.13
- OCA Calls for Immediate Moratorium on Open-Air Field Testing of GE Crops, Organic Consumers' Association Release, 6.06.13
- Eric Mortenson, Genetically modified wheat: No answers yet, federal investigators say, The Oregonian, 11.06.13
- Eric Mortenson, Genetically modified wheat: Oregon growers shocked at discovery, seek to reassure export markets, The Oregonian, 4.06.13
- Carey Gillam, U.S. farmer lawsuit filed against Monsanto over GMO wheat, Reuters, 7.06.13
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for your comment. All comments are moderated before they are published.