Chances are you’ve heard already, but the news is disturbing enough to make sure.
The exact same variety of GMO (genetically moified) wheat developed by Monsanto in the 1990s (the field trials were supposed to have ended years ago) was discovered to be growing in an Eastern Oregon farmer’s fields, in clear violation of US law. (Important note: The farmers who discovered the alien wheat sprayed repeatedly to kill it, but could not. They sent it to a university lab for analysis, which is how Monsanto’s concoction was discovered).
CFH warned long ago about the dangers of such experimenting. Regardless of how vehemently Monsanto asserted that protections were in place to prevent cross-pollination of farmland neighboring areas in which experiments were conducted, we questioned exactly how Monsanto would control the wind, rain, and agricultural runoff that threatened to spread the Frankenseeds. (Never mind that they would probably love to do exactly that).
Well, now Monsanto and the USDA are scrabbling to reassure consumers concerned about just how deeply into the environment this GMO wheat may have spread. Even though they assure us that the wheat is safe for human consumption, the USDA has launched a formal investigation to determine how this spread of Monsanto’s illegal wheat occurred.
Unfortunately, the rest of the world is no more confident about this than consumers are. Bloomberg News reported today that Japan has suspended imports of US-grown wheat, and the price of wheat is falling. Of additional concern according to KGW in Portland: “The discovery also could have implications for organic companies, which by law cannot use genetically engineered ingredients in foods.”
Enough is enough. This past weekend CFH stood with food activists against Monsanto’s machinations at the March Against Monsanto, and we urge you to stand with us now and take action to label GMOs. If we can’t predict when such accidents will occur as a result of genetic tampering, we can at least ensure we’re informed when GMOs are present in what we eat and drink.
Please visit our partners in this fight at JustLabelIt.org and tell Congress we’ve avoided long enough taking the steps necessary to ensure we are informed about what we feed ourselves and our families.
How can one tell the difference between the regular and GMO while in the field?
Farmers were tipped off when their efforts to eradicate the wheat in question by traditional means failed – in other words, they couldn’t kill it! That’s when it was tested and found to be the GMO wheat from Monsanto.
Down with Monsanto!
I think Monsanto was secretly wanting to grow GMO wheat hoping to create a new market without anyone knowing about the experimental GMO wheat growing in Oregon, and they thought they could get by with it, but unfortunately for Monsanto their plans failed because of the wind blowing, and now that the truth is out about what they were trying to do their hopes of expanding their putrid experiental GMO wheat hoping to creat a market for it has backfired on them, and unfortunately for us, who is going to want to eat anything with wheat in it now. I hope this causes the congress and the senate to deal with Monsanto severely and put them in their place hopefully out of business, because now Monsanto and the U.S. government are going to lose money on this situation, and we know how the government hates losing money.