GMO wheat found growing in Oregon

Kstornado11 · #21 05/30/13, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by where I want to

Even if this is not uncontainable and not harmful, sooner or later something awfully unexpected will happen and will be impossible to stop.
No one was sure that the atom bomb would work until they made one. Then they thought they could keep others from having it. But the US couldn't. We are about at the end of that delusion where we give up trying to contain it at all. And atom bomb are not self-replicating.
I suppose that other countries will be checking more thoroughly for it now. I wonder if they'll find that they have been eating it for years.

BBM -That could get quite ugly.

arabian knight · #22 05/30/13, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by where I want to

Even if this is not uncontainable and not harmful, sooner or later something awfully unexpected will happen and will be impossible to stop.
No one was sure that the atom bomb would work until they made one. Then they thought they could keep others from having it. But the US couldn't. We are about at the end of that delusion where we give up trying to contain it at all. And atom bomb are not self-replicating.
I suppose that other countries will be checking more thoroughly for it now. I wonder if they'll find that they have been eating it for years.

And none of them, or anyone in this country has turned into a toad because of it, or grew a third ear, or a third eye in the middle of their forehead either.

SilverVista · #23 05/30/13, 11:40 PM

Let's get back on topic. The GMO wheat in question was discovered when an Eastern Oregon farmer sent workers out to spray roundup on his field edges and ditches, and then noticed that certain areas of wheat didn't die. He called Oregon State University himself, asked for information and advice, and was right on board when the ODA and USDA were consulted. Monsanto trialled GMO wheat in Oregon and several other states until 2005 but ended up abandoning the project and GMO wheat is not registered or grown here now. 90% of Oregon's wheat is exported and several destinations including Japan will not accept GMO grains. Japan has stopped importing Oregon wheat until they have further investigated the situation and are satisfied that they can expect a clean product.

This situation is bad not only for Oregon's wheat farmers and agricultural economy in general, but for Monsanto who thought they had left no problems behind after they concluded their trials.

PrettyPaisley · #24 05/30/13, 11:49 PM

Interesting info about GMO wheat *LABELED* as such on a box of food like-product imported into the UK from the US. Guess we were the last to know?

http://foodbabe.com/2013/05/30/illeg...ft-mac-cheese/

I'm not so sure this isnt fake.

Kstornado11 · #25 05/31/13, 12:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PrettyPaisley

Interesting info about GMO wheat *LABELED* as such on a box of food like-product imported into the UK from the US. Guess we were the last to know?

http://foodbabe.com/2013/05/30/illeg...ft-mac-cheese/

Oh wow!!! Look at that warning label on Kraft Mac & Cheese!!!

haypoint · #26 05/31/13, 06:04 AM

Bad for Monsanto? I think they'll be in the clear on this one, if they can find the farmer that illegally held back seed after the trial was over.
Over a few years, you could multiply GMO wheat. But if you started with a bag of seed that had just a few GMO wheat berries, you'd have to be selecting for it to get a majority of seed to be GMO. You'd have to spray your wheat crop mid season and harvest the survivors.
Let's say farmer Jones contracted with Monsanto to grow GMO wheat. He'd have to sign a contract to give back all of that crop. But he liked the idea of GMO wheat, so he saved out a few bags. Not enough that Monsanto would notice. It wouldn't be an advantage for him to mix the GMO wheat with the rest of his wheat seed. He'd need to keep his GMO field separate. Eventually, he has two choices. Continue to save all his GMO crop and plant ever larger fields of GMO wheat of give up the illegal planting and add the GMO wheat seed to the rest of his seed wheat. The wheat he markets would have some GMO wheat in it. At the local elevator, Farmer Jones' wheat, part GMO, part not, gets added to the wheat of hundreds of other farmers. Then, the elevator takes some wheat and runs it through a fanning mill to remove the light seed and weed seeds. Then they bag it up for sale. The farmer that bought the wheat seed later discovers, quite by accident, that his crop contains a large amount of GMO wheat.
I'll bet there is a major traceback of wheat going on. Where was the seed purchased? What farms sold wheat seed to them? Samples from each of those farms would be underway now.

unregistered168043 · #27 05/31/13, 06:25 AM

I'm sure Monsanto will "find the farmer that did it" whether he did or not. We are talking about a company that is powerful enough to have laws passed that exempt them from the laws everyone else has to abide by. It is a dangerous blight on our nation.

rkintn · #28 05/31/13, 06:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kstornado11

Oh wow!!! Look at that warning label on Kraft Mac & Cheese!!!

Did you see the list of foods from Kraft? I had no idea.

rambler · #29 05/31/13, 08:34 AM

That Kraft label certainly is puzzling. While gmo wheat has been developed in the USA some time ago, and Australia/ New Zealand is working on another type of GMO wheat.

None was ever sold commercially to date, so that would be the one product that would not have to be labeled.

Something does not add up there.

I can see if soybean or corn bits (protein, sugar, gluten) were in the product, but that would be a gmo, not a -wheat- gmo.

Very puzzling.

I realize its besides the issue of the rogue wheat found in Oregon, but just a puzzle as to what that label would have been talking about, as it actually would have been mislabeled!

Paul

where I want to · #30 05/31/13, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arabian knight

And none of them, or anyone in this country has turned into a toad because of it, or grew a third ear, or a third eye in the middle of their forehead either.

Ah but they having been having severe economic problems- probably caused ADHD.

Kstornado11 · #31 05/31/13, 12:54 PM

Oh wow --

Quote:

(Reuters) - South Korean millers suspended imports of U.S. wheat on Friday and some Asian countries stepped up inspections after the discovery of an unapproved strain of genetically modified wheat in the United States, but stopped short of imposing import bans.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...94U0KW20130531

Kstornado11 · #32 05/31/13, 01:18 PM

Quote:

May 31 (Reuters) - Monsanto Co is not pushing for expansion of genetically modified crops in most of Europe as opposition to its biotech seeds in many countries remains high, company officials said on Friday.

European officials for the St. Louis, Missouri-based Monsanto told the German daily "Taz" that they were no longer doing any lobby work for cultivation in Europe and not seeking any new approvals for genetically modified plants.

"We've come to the conclusion that this has no broad acceptance at the moment," Monsanto Germany spokeswoman, Ursula Lüttmer-Ouazane, told Taz.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...n_3367284.html

texican · #33 05/31/13, 02:41 PM

I love a good conspiracy theory. My initial reaction to this is, it couldn't be the farmer that reported it, in his own field, because who would want to be subject to million dollar fines... so....

Possibly someone with a grudge against the individual farmer, knowing investigations could tie up his planting season, driving him to bankruptcy.

Possibly someone wanting to make money (always a very good reason) off short sales on American wheat?

Possibly someone with grievances against wheat farmers in general.

Possibly someone with an anti-GMO grievance, needing a good disaster to gin up controversy...

Kstornado11 · #34 05/31/13, 02:48 PM

Quote:

BERLIN -- The European Union is urging its 27 member states to test certain wheat shipments from the United States after unauthorized genetically modified grains were found on a U.S. farm, officials said Friday.

The move came after Japan halted imports Thursday of some types of wheat from the U.S. following the discovery of an experimental strain that was tested by Monsanto but was never approved.

"The Commission is following carefully the presence of this non-authorized GM wheat in Oregon in order to ensure that European consumers are protected from any unauthorized GM presence and make sure that the EU zero tolerance for such GM events is implemented," EU's consumer protection office said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...n_3366676.html

Kstornado11 · #35 05/31/13, 04:21 PM

Article on Business Week...

http://www.businessweek.com/articles...oing-in-oregon

Quote:

Wheat farmers, advocates of food safety, and pretty much anyone who eats bread or noodles have turned their attention to Oregon, where a wheat farmer found a genetically engineered strain of wheat in his otherwise unmodified crop. He couldn’t kill it in any of the normal ways, so he sent it to the lab for testing, which sounds like the set-up for a farm-belt horror movie. The reality has caused alarm of a different sort: Genetically modified wheat hasn’t been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and unlike corn and soy and other so-called GMO foods, there isn’t supposed to be any genetically modified wheat in the U.S. food supply at all.

Kstornado11 · #36 05/31/13, 04:24 PM

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-0...ady-wheat.html

Quote:

Monsanto Co. (MON), the world’s largest seed company, resumed planting of experimental wheat engineered to survive Roundup herbicide, U.S. data show, reviving a similar program that has caused international concern with the discovery that the crop escaped in Oregon.
Monsanto last year planted 150 acres of wheat in Hawaii that was genetically modified to tolerate glyphosate weedkiller, which the company sells as Roundup, according to a Virginia Tech database administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Another permit allows Monsanto to test wheat with multiple traits, including Roundup tolerance, on 300 acres in North Dakota this year.

BobbyB · #37 05/31/13, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bearfootfarm

Got any evidence of that ever happening?

have you got any that it hasn't. That stuff goes both ways.

Bearfootfarm · #38 05/31/13, 05:47 PM

Quote:

have you got any that it hasn't. That stuff goes both ways

No, it doesn't
I'm simply asking someone to SHOW some documented cases of GMO crops contaminating other crops "from miles away", as was claimed.

Actual data doesn't seem to match the claims being made, and when asked for sources, there seem to be no answers given.

MDKatie · #39 05/31/13, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bearfootfarm

No, it doesn't
I'm simply asking someone to SHOW some documented cases of GMO crops contaminating other crops "from miles away", as was claimed.

Actual data doesn't seem to match the claims being made, and when asked for sources, there seem to be no answers given.

Does it seem impossible to you that a GMO crop could travel miles to contaminate other fields? There are so many modes of possible contamination, through planting equipment, spraying equipment, trucking, etc, that it seems quite possible to me that seed could end up miles from where it was intended to be.

http://swroc.cfans.umn.edu/prod/grou...cle_390283.pdf

Bearfootfarm · #40 05/31/13, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Does it seem impossible to you that a GMO crop could travel miles to contaminate other fields?
There are so many modes of possible contamination, through planting equipment, spraying equipment, trucking, etc, that it seems quite possible to me that seed could end up miles from where it was intended to be.

Many things are "possible" without being PROBABLE.
I'm more interested in things that are documented than in speculation.

The claim was about crop cross-pollination, not seed transport

You did make a good point as to why labeling is logistically nearly impossible, without just labeling everything NOT " certified organic" as "MAY contain GMO"

Quote:

There are so many modes of possible contamination, through planting equipment, spraying equipment, trucking, etc,