Article written by Dr. Mercola. More Here
Monsanto has really done it this time. As recently reported by CNBC and other media outlets, an unapproved strain of genetically engineered wheat has been found growing on a farm in Oregon. The U.S. Department of Agriculture [USDA] announced the anomaly on May 29.
As it turns out, the Roundup Ready [glyphosate-resistant] strain of wheat was developed by Monsanto and field tested in 16 different states between 1998 and 2005.
Plans to bring it to market were abandoned due to opposition against genetically engineered wheat. Many countries importing U.S. wheat do not permit genetically engineered ingredients in their food, or require such foods to be labeled.
About 50% of the wheat grown in the U.S. is exported. The finding of illegal genetically engineered wheat contamination may dramatically alter this ration however. Japan and Korea have already suspended orders of U.S. wheat in response to the findings. The European Union has ordered member states to test imported wheat for contamination.
The economic impact to wheat farmers could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Washington and Kansas wheat farmers have already filed lawsuits against Monsanto due to the immediate harm this disaster has created.
The effects will not be limited to wheat, as importing countries question what other genetic experiments may have escaped the lab and contaminated natural varieties. Monsanto has clearly stated they will leverage the fact they followed government protocol and therefore cannot be held accountable for this mess. The biotech industry is also defending Monsanto, suggesting ‘activists’ must have set them up. The biotech industry has so strongly infiltrated and influenced the government agriculture and ‘health’ agencies they should be considered subsidiaries.
“And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances [scales] in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see you hurt not the oil and the wine” (Revelation 6:5-6). “… fourth seal, … a pale horse; and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell [the grave] followed with him. … to kill … with hunger … (Revelation 6:7-8).
How Did GE Wheat Survive More Than a Decade After the Last Field Trial?
Monsanto and other biotech companies have repeatedly promised that their creations will not escape its intended confines. Today, after hundreds of farmers have been sued for patent infringement after Monsanto’s patented seeds were found growing where they weren’t supposed to, we know how ridiculous such assertions are.
The present situation is even more disturbing, as it shows that field trial alone might have the potential to cause permanent cross-contamination. During a seven-year period, between 1998 and 2005, field tests were conducted in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming.
Monsanto resumed field trials of Roundup Ready wheat in 2012, planting 150 acres in Hawaii. Furthermore, according to a report by Bloomberg:
“Another permit allows Monsanto to test wheat with multiple traits, including Roundup tolerance, on 300 acres in North Dakota in 2013. Monsanto said May 29 in a statement that it ended its program to develop Roundup Ready wheat nearly a decade before the USDA announced the week of June 11 that the experimental crop was discovered growing on an Oregon farm. The Roundup Ready wheat in the new field trials is ‘an entirely different event’ than the escaped crop reported by the USDA, Monsanto said.
“’This research is still in the very early phases and at least a decade away from commercial approval,’ Lee Quarles, a Monsanto spokesman, said in an e-mail response to questions’ The Roundup Ready wheat project that is the subject of the USDA report was previously discontinued.”
