A couple of years ago we visited the Palouse area of Washington where wheat is the call of the day and has been for many decades. I was quite a sight to say the least as the fields stretched in every direction over rolling hills. Last week articles started appearing noting that not far from this location, but in Oregon, a strain of of Monsanto's GMO wheat had showed up in a farmers fields. ( http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-20/the-search-for-monsantos-rogue-gmo-wheat) (http://www.foodrenegade.com/gmo-wheat-escapes-tainting-crops-oregon/)
Interestingly, this particular crop was not supposed to have been released to the public because the rest of the world is having doubts about the safety of GMO crops. In fact, many countries have banded the stuff as being not fit for human consumption. The problem comes when farmers try to sell it there is no market over seas where most of the sales take place. We in the US, of course, don't seem to mind as the media here doesn't really cover the issue and the big corporations control the law making and the narrative in the press. Still, the wheat has not been welcomed and was supposed to be a "secret".
There was a bit of a panic to see if the genes were in fact now scattered about the fields of America. So far it has not been found outside the one field---and of course, they are blaming "Eco Terrorist" for putting it there but no one knows how they could actually do that in that Monsanto is the only holders of the seeds.
The item that got my attention in all of this was the mention of other GMO nightmares that are now occurring because it seems every crop has now been genetically modified and many of them are slowly creating other problems. Some GMO plants are producing chemicals designed to inhibit insect attacks but in the process might be killing honey bees. Others are appearing to not be healthy for human consumption. Modified corn genes are finding their way into other varieties of corn thus taking away their natural natures and bio diversities.
Also noted is the fact that other plants are now adapting to to Roundup and becoming resistant to the nasty chemical. They are becoming "Super Weeds" that quickly take over fields and can not be killed by Roundup so more nasty chemicals need to be developed to prevent the loss of acreage to these monster weeds.
What it looks like is we just might have us a "Progress Trap" going on. We think we are doing so well with all of our technological gains only to find out the progress is a trap leading us to a worse condition, one that might become very harmful very fast. But then, we do have to feed 85 million more people every year, year after year. Something here is not making sense. Is there an active dialog going on?
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