TOKYO/BRUSSELS: Unapproved genetically modified wheat found growing in the United States is threatening US exports of the world’s biggest traded food commodity, with Japan stopping a purchase against a backdrop of consumer sensitivity to gene-altered food.
Japan cancelled a tender offer to buy US western white wheat, while other top Asian wheat importers South Korea, China and the Philippines said they were closely monitoring the situation.
“We will refrain from buying western white and feed wheat effective today,” Toru Hisadome, a Japanese farm ministry official in charge of wheat trading, said.
The world’s biggest wheat importer, Egypt, said it had no fears yet over supplies.
The European Union is preparing to test incoming shipments, and will block any containing GM wheat.
GM wheat was discovered this spring on a farm in the west coast state of Oregon, in a field that grew winter wheat in 2012. USDA officials said that when a farmer sprayed the so-called “volunteer” plants with a glyphosate herbicide, some of them unexpectedly survived.
Scientists found the wheat was a strain field-tested from 1998 to 2005 and deemed safe before St. Louis-based biotech giant Monsanto withdrew it from the regulatory approval process on worldwide opposition to genetically engineered wheat.
GMO crops tolerate certain pesticides, allowing farmers to improve weed control and increase yields.
No GM wheat varieties are approved for general planting in the US or elsewhere, the USDA said. The EU has asked Monsanto for a detection method to allow its controls to be carried out.
With high consumer wariness towards genetically-modified food, few countries allow imports of such cereals for direct human consumption.
“The only way to protect our food and environment is to stop the releases of GE crops to the environment — including a ban on field trials,” Greenpeace International scientist Janet Cotter said.
REUTERS
