GMO Contamination: It's not the first time

In late May the USDA announced that unapproved genetically modified (GMO) wheat has been discovered in a field in Oregon, which is a major wheat exporter – yet no GMO wheat has been approved for trial production in the U.S. since 2005!  The Non-GMO Project provides a report and is monitoring the story: http://www.nongmoproject.org/2013/05/29/non-gmo-project-responds-to-usda-announcement-of-gmo-wheat-contamination-in-oregon/.

This is not the first time a U.S. crop has been contaminated by an unapproved GMO. In 2006, long grain rice grown in the U.S. was contaminated by Bayer AG genetically modified rice, and the discovery of this led to reduced European purchases of U.S. rice even to this day, along with a $750 million settlement with Bayer AG.  In the case of the contaminated wheat in Oregon, the apparent link is to Monsanto and its earlier GMO trials.

In a June 6, 2013 update in the New York Times, the risks of uncontrolled spread of genetically modified strains among other grasses (the family of plants including wheat) are clearly acknowledged and warned against by an environmental scientist who participated in a prominent GMO study by the National Research Council: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/06/us/genetically-altered-crop-in-oregon-no-surprise.html?hp

U.S. food giants keep shooting themselves in the foot with regard to the millions of customers in Japan, Canada, and Europe who have strong food safety concerns.  Smithfield Farms, a pork industry leader, may have found a solution:  sell the company to China.