GM wheat detection puts partial freeze on US exports

Like Australia, the US has not approved any GM wheat varieties for commercial production but has been conducting scientific research trials as the technology’s use gains greater commercial acceptance.

Reuters is reporting the USDA as saying Japan has suspend purchases of Western White wheat from certain US growing regions, for food and feed use, until testing can be conducted on imports, following the GM wheat detection.

South Korea has also suspended US wheat imports for food use, the USDA was reported to have said.

A statement from the USDA confirmed the discovery by a farmer of 22 GM wheat plants growing in an unplanted agricultural field, in Washington State.

It said the GM wheat variety in question was developed by Monsanto and resistant to the herbicide glyphosate - commonly referred to as Roundup.

The USDA said its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) had taken “prompt and thorough action” in response to the discovery and had found no evidence of GM wheat “in commerce”.

It said the GM wheat developed by Monsanto contained the CP4-EPSPS protein which the US Food and Drug Administration had previously evaluated and concluded it was unlikely to present any safety concerns, if present in the food supply, due to the incident.

“Working with the farmer, APHIS has taken measures to ensure that no GE wheat moves into commerce,” the USDA said.

“Out of an abundance of caution, APHIS is testing the farmer’s full wheat harvest for the presence of any GE material.

“The farmer’s harvest is complete and it continues to be held while USDA completes tests of the grain.

“So far all samples continue to be negative for any GE material.

“If any wheat tests positive for GE material, the farmer’s crop will not be allowed in commerce.”

The USDA said Monsanto had also developed a test to identify the GM wheat variety in commercial grain shipments and validated its sensitivity level so trading partners can use it on wheat imports, if they choose.

“USDA is collaborating with our state, industry and trading partners and we are committed to providing all our partners with timely and transparent information about our findings,” a statement said.

“There are no genetically engineered wheat varieties for sale or in commercial production in the US at this time, as APHIS has not deregulated any GE wheat varieties.”

The latest incident comes after an unapproved GM wheat plant was mysteriously discovered in an east Oregon farmer’s field in 2013 which sparked a temporary trade ban into key Asian export markets, on the eve of harvest.

A subsequent investigation by the USDA failed to uncover how the unapproved GM wheat appeared on the farm in the north-east corner of Oregon at Umatilla County leaving questions marks over potential activist sabotage, given ongoing political argument over labelling and general philosophical resistance to the technology.

The USDA’s statement said in recent years it had also taken steps to strengthen  the oversight of regulated GM field trials.

It said APHIS now required developers to apply for a permit for field trials involving GM wheat beginning with varieties planted on or after January 1, 2016.

“The decision to require the more stringent permit process rather than the notification process employed in the past, provides added protection that GE wheat will remain confined during field trials,” the USDA said.

A statement from Monsanto said the plant variety in question (MON71700) was evaluated in a limited number of field trials in the US Pacific Northwest from 1998 to 2001 but it was never commercialised.

It said the validated testing method had been handed over to Japan and Korea and technical experts from both the USDA and Monsanto were working with regulators in those countries to get the tests set up and answer any questions.

Monsanto said decades of research had also demonstrated that transgenic crops were “as safe and nutritious as their traditional counterparts”.

“The CP4-EPSPS protein has been extensively evaluated by regulatory bodies around the world,” the statement said.

“These agencies have approved its use in a wide range of crops, including corn, soy, canola, alfalfa, sugar beets and cotton.

“The US wheat supply chain continues to provide safe and high-quality wheat for both domestic and foreign markets and there is no evidence that glyphosate-tolerant wheat is in the seed supply or grain commerce.

“This conclusion is supported by ongoing screening over the past three years of widely planted wheat varieties in the Pacific Northwest by Washington State University (WSU) and the routine use of glyphosate as an agronomic tool by US wheat growers.”

WSU said in the last three years its field screening process had involved over 80 varieties, 2000 advanced breeding lines and more than 35,000 individual plots from its cereal breeding and variety evaluation programs.

“Collectively, varieties included in these trials represent over 95 per cent of the wheat acreage planted in Washington - testing to date has revealed no glyphosate resistant wheat in these trials,” a statement said.

“In summary, in 2013 we found no evidence of the GM trait in any of our testing.

“This includes pre-released germplasm at all stages of development in the breeding programs, parent (foundation) seed stocks and commercially available certified seed.

“In a sense, this is wheat at all stages of the breeding, certified seed increase and commercial sale/distribution process.

“This supported the belief that the 2013 incident in Oregon was an isolated case and that wheat with the GM trait is not present in Pacific Northwest commercial wheat seed.”

The US Wheat Associates (USW) and the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) said they were aware of the situation and as expected, Japan and Korea were being cautious about some new purchases of US wheat.

A statement said Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) planned to temporarily suspend new purchases of western white wheat (soft white and 20 percent club wheat) from the Pacific Northwest until it can validate and start using a new detection assay test provided by Monsanto and USDA.

It also said there may be temporary suspension of domestic distribution of white wheat that is already in-store Japan.

The materials needed to create the test assay are in Japan and it should only take two to three weeks for MAFF to implement the testing.

USW said Japan put out four weekly tenders per month for delivery about two months later and US hard red winter and hard red spring tenders/purchases will continue normally.

USW said the Korean government had also temporarily suspended tenders for US wheat and is holding any US wheat from mills until it can implement the test assay.

“We believe it will start testing US wheat as soon as this week - as we expect the testing will detect no GM wheat, Korea will likely end its suspension fairly soon,” a statement said.

“USW, NAWG and state wheat organisations believe that APHIS has successfully managed this situation and provided sufficient evidence that this has not affected commercial wheat supplies.

“Based on that and other facts, we are very confident that nothing has changed the US wheat supply chain’s ability to deliver wheat that matches every customer’s specifications.

“In fact, the Korean Ministry of Agriculture, Farms and Rural Affairs has issued a public statement saying that there is no concern from Korean experts, including officials from the Quarantine Inspection Agency that GM wheat has been or will be introduced to Korea.”

USW said grain import officials in Japan and Korea had tested for the GM event identified in 2013 in virtually every load of US wheat delivered to those countries since August 2013 and it had not been identified in more than 500 million bushels of wheat exported to Japan alone.

“The federal systems in place ensure that unauthorized biotech products are tightly regulated and do not enter commercial channels,” the statement said.