Japan & South Korea suspend imports of U.S. wheat after genetically engineered wheat was found on an Oregon farm

[Emily]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busine...00a_story.html

Japan suspends wheat imports from Pacific Northwest after modified wheat discovered in Oregon

By Associated Press, Published: May 30

WASHINGTON ? Japan has suspended some imports of U.S. wheat after genetically engineered wheat was found on an Oregon farm.

The Agriculture Department announced the discovery of the modified wheat on Wednesday. No genetically engineered wheat has been approved for U.S. farming.
[snip]
The modified wheat was discovered when field workers at an Eastern Oregon wheat farm were clearing acres for the bare off season when they came across a patch of wheat that didn?t belong. The workers sprayed it and sprayed it, but the wheat wouldn?t die. Their confused boss grabbed a few stalks and sent it to a university lab in early May...

Super-weed.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/201...d-it-get-there

GMO Wheat Found In Oregon Field. How Did It Get There?

by
May 30, 2013 3:05 AM
[snip]
The biotech company Monsanto did create varieties of wheat that tolerate the weedkiller glyphosate, or Roundup ? just as it created "Roundup Ready" corn, soybeans, cotton and canola. It also carried out field trials of this wheat in 16 different states.

But the country's wheat growers told the company that they did not want it.

"We are not in favor of commercializing any biotech trait unless it's gone through regulatory approvals in the U.S. and in other countries," says Steve Mercer, vice president of communications for . Many countries, including some that import wheat from the U.S., are quite hostile to genetically engineered crops.

Monsanto dropped the wheat project. It never asked for government approval, and it ended its field trials of wheat in 2005...

[Emily]

Re: Japan suspends imports of U.S. wheat after genetically engineered wheat was found on an Oregon farm

http://seattletimes.com/html/localne...fiedwheat.html

Originally published Saturday, June 1, 2013 at 10:44 AM

Cost questions follow discovery of modified wheat

The discovery of genetically-modified wheat in an Eastern Oregon field has touched off a debate on the economics and safety of altering crop genetics...

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/i...wheat_sou.html

Genetically modified wheat: South Korea now wary of Oregon imports
Eric Mortenson, The Oregonian By Eric Mortenson, The Oregonian
on May 31, 2013 at 10:58 AM, updated May 31, 2013 at 12:32 PM
[snip]
An Oregon State University wheat researcher whose department first determined the plants carried the Roundup resistant gene said he was shocked by the discovery. University researchers tested the plants three times to be sure, said Robert Zemetra, an OSU wheat breeder...

http://inserbia.info/news/2013/05/us...eat-discovery/

US Races to Reassure Global Buyers after GMO Wheat Discovery
[snip]
?Unless there?s a quick resolution, this is not going to be good for the export market,? said Art Liming, grain futures specialist with Citigroup.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said nine investigators were collecting evidence in and around Oregon, the West Coast state where the genetically modified, or GM, wheat was found growing. A USDA spokesman said the investigators are taking witness statements, records and samples.

?We have increased the number of investigators throughout this month to work quickly and carefully to cover as much ground each day to determine what we are dealing with, how it got there, and where it might have gone,? he said...

[Emily]

Re: Japan suspends imports of U.S. wheat after genetically engineered wheat was found on an Oregon farm

Monsanto shares fall as South Korea joins pause in wheat imports

http://www.foodproductdesign.com/new...discovery.aspx

Monsanto Sued over GMO Wheat Discovery
17 minutes ago 0 Comments

WICHITA, Kan.?In a lawsuit filed against Monsanto Company, a Kansas farmer is seeking more than $100,000 in damages following a discovery that has alienated importers of U.S. wheat.

Ernest Barnes has sued Monsanto in federal court, claiming his "livelihood is now at serious risk" due to the company's "negligence or gross negligence." ...

http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...altered-strain

Tests of Exported U.S. Wheat Find No Sign of Altered Strain (1)
By Alan Bjerga
June 04, 2013
[snip]
Monsanto said in a posting on its corporate blog today that it gave the USDA and U.S. trading partners a testing method to distinguish the wheat trait developed to resist the company?s Roundup herbicide from varieties approved for planting and consumption.

?Our support is aimed at ensuring that the U.S. wheat industry and wheat farmers do not experience disruptions in exports,? Philip Miller, the vice president of regulatory affairs, said in a statement. The company continues to believe the Oregon case is an isolated incident, according to the post...

So tests developed by Monsanto gave negative results for contamination, rather than the tests used by Oregon researchers who discovered the escaped wheat strain.

[Emily]

Re: Japan & South Korea suspend imports of U.S. wheat after genetically engineered wheat was found on an Oregon farm

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...0F40QR20130628

UPDATE 1-Monsanto unapproved GMO wheat stored in Colorado through '11

By Carey Gillam

(Reuters) - Monsanto Co's unapproved, experimental genetically engineered wheat, which is feared to have potentially contaminated U.S. wheat supplies after it was found growing in an Oregon field this spring, was kept in a U.S. government storage facility until at least late 2011, according to documents obtained by Reuters.

The revelation that the seed for the controversial genetically engineered wheat was kept viable in a Colorado storage facility as recently as a year and a half ago comes as the U.S. government is investigating how the strain of experimental wheat wound up growing in an Oregon field this spring...

Also the article mentions a conspiracy theory Monsanto has concocted to explain how the Roundup-Ready wheat spread:

The Roundup Ready wheat was never approved for commercial use and was supposed to be tightly controlled. Monsanto has said it suspects someone covertly obtained its wheat seed and planted it in the Oregon field to sabotage Monsanto's work with biotech crops.

But the article only mentions the government and Monsanto itself holding supplies of the seeds and Monsanto directed the USDA to destroy its supply in 2012 according to the report.

Also, the U.S. government is very supportive of Monsanto's interests.

See this thread from late March:

U.S.: Obama signs bill that protects makers of genetically engineered crops from federal courts