Scientists unswayed by Monsanto’s conclusions on rogue wheat
WASHINGTON — Several plant scientists questioned conclusions Monsanto Co. drew from its investigation of an escaped genealtered wheat variety and said there is still a risk that rogue grain is in the seed supply.
In its first detailed response to last week’s announcement that a genetically modified wheat not approved for use was found growing in an Oregon farmer’s field, Monsanto said that it has since tested 31,200 seed samples in Oregon and Washington and found no evidence of contamination.
That’s not enough to convince some researchers that this genetic modification, not cleared for commercial sale, won’t be found in some wheat seeds.
“We don’t know where in the whole chain it is,” said Carol Mallory-Smith, the weed science professor at Oregon State University who tested the initial wheat plants and determined they were a genetic variety Monsanto had tested. “I don’t know how Monsanto can declare anything. We obviously had these plants in the field.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is investigating how the wheat showed up eight years after the company ended f ield tests. It was found growing on about 1 percent of the farmer’s 125-acre field, and he submitted it to Oregon State for testing after an application of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide didn’t kill it.
The discovery prompted Japan and South Korea to suspend some U.S. wheat purchases, and a Kansas farmer alleged in a federal lawsuit filed this week that Monsanto damaged the market for his crop.
St. Louis-based Monsanto’s $13.5 billion of annual sales are anchored in corn and other crops genetically engineered to tolerate Roundup, the world’s best selling herbicide. These Roundup Ready plants are widely grown in the U.S. because they allow farmers to kill weeds without harming the crop.
The company’s tests show t he genetically modified variety isn’t present in the types of seeds planted on the Oregon farm or in the wheat seed typically grown in Oregon and Washington, said Robb Fraley, the company’s chief technology officer.
“It seems likely to be a random, isolated occurrence ... ,” Fraley said. Yet, some scientists say they are befuddled about how this wheat could have gotten into the field after so many years.
“We can’t come up with any great logical explanation for what happened,” Oregon State’s MallorySmith said in an interview. “You introduce something into the environment, and genes move around in the environment, whether transgenic or not.”