S
omething was wrong: The plants weren’t dead. After letting the field in eastern Oregon lay fallow for a season, the farmer sprayed the popular herbicide glyphosate to kill weeds and errant plants to make way for the coming season. Most of the plants withered and died, as expected, but scattered around there stood unscathed green stalks of wheat. There are plants that glyphosate can’t kill, ones grown from seeds with genes deliberately modified to resist the chemical’s effects. Glyphosate-resistant corn, soybeans, cotton, alfalfa, sugar beets and canola are grown from seeds developed and sold by agriculture giant Monsanto, which also sells the herbicide under the brand name Roundup. It appeared this particular wheat was herbicide-resistant. Which wasn’t supposed to be possible: Monsanto doesn’t sell geInitiative 522, on the netically modified wheat, and there’s none ballot in Washington grown commercially anywhere in the world. this year, would On the final day of April, the farmer sent require labeling of the surviving plants to Carol Mallory-Smith, all foods made with a weed expert at Oregon State University. genetically modified The initial test results were surprising, so she ingredients. did a more precise molecular test. Notification went out to the state Department of Agriculture, the Oregon Wheat Commission and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which did its own testing for almost a month before making the announcement on May 29: A strain of genetically modified wheat developed years earlier by Monsanto — but never approved by the federal government — had been found in the Oregon wheat field. The discovery made headlines around the globe, while sending chills through international markets. Japan and other Asian countries halted their purchases and began testing all grain straight off incoming ships. Treating it as a criminal probe, investigators under the USDA interviewed more than 250 local growers and tested grain. Monsanto did its own tests. Washington State University tested the wheat grown in its breeding programs and then almost all varieties grown in the Northwest. No other trace of suspect wheat was found, and Asian countries agreed to resume buying Oregon’s wheat after several tense months. But the federal government’s investigation remains open, because inspectors have yet to answer the central question: How did this happen?
FAST FACT
It’s still a topic of coffee-shop speculation among the growers in Oregon, even as they prepare their fields for planting next year’s crop. It’s possible seeds got mixed up somewhere. One theory blames a flock of passing geese. Monsanto suggested it could be sabotage. “Quite honestly, nothing makes sense,” says wheat grower Darren Padget, a member of the Oregon Wheat Commission. “The fact of the matter is we just don’t know. We may never know.”
O
ne basic underlying question barely came up at all: Should we be afraid of genetically modified food? The scientific consensus among the world’s major health organizations is that genetically modified food — commonly known as genetically modified organisms, or GMOs — is not harmful to human health. But it’s impossible to prove a negative, and an unavoidable gap exists between what science shows and what can’t possibly be known about the future. A growing number of Americans are eyeing that divide with mistrust. Farmers have been selectively breeding and controlling the genetic traits of crops and livestock for centuries, but genetic engineering dates back to the ’70s and ’80s, when a growing understanding of DNA made it possible to selectively transfer genes from one organism to another. Pioneers in the field envisioned cures for diseases and crops that wouldn’t freeze. But public uneasiness with genetically modified organisms and the companies that produce them was already apparent by 1992, when a Boston College professor coined the term “Frankenfood” in a letter to the New York Times. By the end of the ’90s, most countries in Europe had limited GMOs or banned them outright. Supporters of genetic engineering believe the technology has the potential to save crops from disease or feed the world’s growing population. They point to Golden Rice, one serving of which could provide half of a child’s daily Vitamin A nutrition. Opponents consider it unnecessary and unnatural, while lining the pockets of massive corporations unconcerned with effects on human health. The debate is primarily waged in the arenas of business and politics, and the latest round takes place in Washington state this fall as voters consider Initiative 522. If passed, the state would become the first to require the labeling of foods made with genetically modified ingredients. Right now, the only genetically engineered produce a consumer might find in grocery store aisles are papayas — genetically modified in the late ’90s to resist a devastating virus — and sweet corn, ...continued on next page
SEPTEMBER 26, 2013 INLANDER 25