By Tennille Tracy
WASHINGTON--Genetically engineered wheat has surfaced at a
second unauthorized location in the U.S., the Agriculture
Department said Friday, renewing calls for congressional oversight
over the testing system for modified crops.
The Agriculture Department said it launched an investigation
into genetically engineered plants discovered in July at Montana
State University's Southern Agricultural Research Center.
The announcement comes as the USDA wraps up a monthslong
investigation into the first unauthorized appearance of genetically
engineered wheat, discovered on a farm in Oregon in 2013. The
agency said Friday that it couldn't determine how the wheat got on
the 125-acre Oregon farm but that it appeared to be an isolated
incident.
The Agriculture Department allows genetically engineered wheat
to be tested at sites across the U.S. but it hasn't approved the
grain for commercial production. While field tests of modified
wheat were conducted at the Montana site between 2000 and 2003, the
plants discovered in July weren't supposed to be there.
The appearance of unapproved plants prompts U.S. trading
partners to lose confidence in the domestic supply. When
unauthorized plants were discovered in Oregon, both Japan and South
Korea imposed temporary bans on U.S. wheat.
"If the U.S. wheat market were to show signs of [genetically
engineered] wheat, it could have a major impact on our ability to
trade wheat in critical locations around the world," said
Bernadette Juarez, a director of investigative and enforcement
services at the USDA.
The wheat found in both Oregon and Montana had been genetically
engineered by Monsanto Co. to withstand the herbicide known as
glyphosate. The cases are unrelated, however, the USDA said.
Monsanto said it is cooperating with the Agriculture
Department's latest inquiry.
"We continuously review our processes and procedures to improve
them, including site selection, field trial isolation, and
verification and auditing of field trial locations," said Philip
Miller, head of Monsanto's global regulatory affairs.
The Montana State University research center doesn't operate as
a commercial farm so there should be less cause for concern among
importers of U.S. wheat, Ms. Juarez said.
"We see the situation in Montana and Oregon as being very
different," she said.
Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food
Safety, which questions the safety of genetically engineered crops,
said the USDA appears ill-equipped to manage the system for testing
modified crops and called for Congress to look into the
process.
"If you don't know how something happens, you don't know how to
prevent it," Mr. Kimbrell said.
Write to Tennille Tracy at tennille.tracy@wsj.com