US officials raced to quell global alarm over the first-ever discovery of an unapproved strain of genetically modified wheat, working to figure out how the rogue grain escaped from a field trial a decade ago.
In the wake of news that a strain developed by biotech giant Monsanto had been found in an Oregon field late last month, major buyer Japan cancelled plans to buy US wheat while the Europe Union said it would step up testing. Worried US farmers wondered if their own fields had been contaminated.
Even after weeks of investigation, experts are baffled as to how the seed survived for years after Monsanto had ceased all field tests of the product. It was found in a field growing a different type of wheat than Monsanto’s strain, far from areas used for field tests, according to an Oregon State University wheat researcher who tested the strain.
Nine Department of Agriculture investigators are now on the ground in and around Oregon, collecting evidence including witness statements, records and samples, USDA spokesman Ed Curlett said. There is no timeline for concluding the enquiry, said wheat industry sources who were briefed on Wednesday.
“We have increased the number of investigators throughout this month to work quickly and carefully to cover as much ground each day to determine what we are dealing with, how it got there, and where it might have gone,” Curlett said.
The USDA said the GM wheat found in Oregon posed no threat to human health, and also said there was no evidence that the grain had entered the commercial supply chain.