The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
GMO wheat found in Washington state could affect US trade
they were working with the farmer to ensure that none of the modified wheat is sold. Out of caution, the agency said it is holding and testing the farmer’s full wheat harvest, but so far it has not found GMOs.
The plants are a type of wheat that had been evaluated in limited field trials in the Pacific Northwest from 1998 to 2001 but never commercialized, Monsanto said in a statement. It said the type found in Washington state is similar to the one discovered in Oregon three years ago; it has the same inserted DNA but in a different location.
No variety of genetically engineered wheat has been approved for commercial use or production in the U.S.
GMOs are plants or animals that have had genes copied from other plants or animals inserted into their DNA. Most genetically engineered crops are corn and soybeans eaten by livestock or made into popular processed food ingredients like cornstarch, soybean oil or high fructose corn syrup.
Only a handful of modified fruits and vegetables are available, including Hawaiian papaya, some zucchini and squash and a small percentage of sweet corn.
The FDA also has approved for consumption a genetically engineered salmon that would grow faster than traditional salmon, but it’s not yet available in grocery stores.
South Korea said Friday that it will inspect U. S. wheat imports for genetically modified wheat, the Yonhap News Agency reported. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said it has asked the USDA for information on the unapproved wheat and inspection methods.
The USDA said it has validated a test that Monsanto developed for the herbicide-resistant wheat, which would be available to trading partners.
“Trading par tners will get the tests. I believe that once they have those in place, they’ll continue buying,” said Glen Squires, CEO of the Wash- ington Grain Commission, a state agency that represents wheat farmers. “We don’t anticipate any major disruptions.”
The USDA also said it has beefed up oversight of genetically engineered field trials and now requires developers to apply for a permit for those involving GMO wheat starting this year.
In 2014, genetically modified wheat plants were found at a university research center in Huntley, Montana, where it was legally tested byMonsanto in the early 2000s. The plants in eastern Oregon were found in a field that had never conducted such tests, and the USDA closed its investigation two years ago unable to determine how the wheat got there. Different strains were found in each state.
The Washington Association of Wheat Growers and the Washington State Agriculture Department referred questions to federal authorities.