{"id":67470,"date":"2013-05-31T14:23:06","date_gmt":"2013-05-31T18:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/?p=67470"},"modified":"2013-06-01T22:23:27","modified_gmt":"2013-06-02T02:23:27","slug":"japan-halts-purchase-of-u-s-wheat-after-rogue-monsanto-strain-found-in-oregon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/daily-astrology\/japan-halts-purchase-of-u-s-wheat-after-rogue-monsanto-strain-found-in-oregon\/","title":{"rendered":"Days After Worldwide Protest, Japan Halts Purchase of all U.S. Wheat After Rogue Monsanto Strain Found in Oregon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Japan\u2019s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries canceled its plan to buy 24,926 tons of western-white wheat from the U.S. Thursday after the discovery of genetically modified wheat in an Oregon field<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The wheat is a strain that had been field-tested by Monsanto from 1998-2005, which withdrew its application for approval when it became clear international buyers would likely avoid GMO wheat. Because the wheat has not been approved by the federal government, it’s illegal to grow or sell.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The wheat discovered in Oregon was bred to resist glyphosate, the key ingredient of Roundup. Photo: Simon Dawson\/Bloomberg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The U.S. is the world\u2019s largest wheat exporter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will have an impact worldwide, because our trading partners do not want genetically modified wheat,\u201d Michael Hansen, senior scientist at Consumers Union in New York, said in an interview. \u201cThis crop may be safe to eat, or it may not be. We don\u2019t know because we haven\u2019t done the proper scrutiny.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, no other genetically modified crops have been properly safety tested. The first patents for genetic modification of crops were filed just 30 years ago, in 1983. There’s no way to tell in that short of a time frame the real effects of GMO crops on the health of people, animals or the environment.<\/p>\n

There is an astrological angle to this. Last weekend’s lunar eclipse across the Gemini\/Sagittarius axis aspected one of the most sensitive lines in Monsanto’s chart — its midheaven. This incident happened the same week as the first worldwide protest against genetically modified foods, which was Saturday, May 25.<\/p>\n

The Oregon farmer who made the discovery did so when he tried to kill wheat using Monsanto\u2019s Roundup weed killer and found that several plants survived. The rogue wheat strain had been specifically modified to resist Roundup (specifically, the key ingredient glyphosate) — that’s to say, it was Roundup Ready wheat.<\/p>\n

The farmer then rented an airplane and sprayed Agent Orange on the wheat but it only grew stronger. He then rented a small fighter plane and tried to bomb it several times, but it survived that too. Before using a thermonuclear device, he decided to call the Associated Press. Okay, just kidding about everything in this paragraph.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Monsanto, which typically sues farmers who unwittingly grow its patented crops, downplayed the discovery of its GMO wheat growing where it didn’t belong.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first report of the Roundup Ready trait being found out of place since Monsanto\u2019s commercial development program was discontinued nine years ago,\u201d said the company in a statement. \u201cThere are no food, feed, or environmental safety concerns associated with the presence of the Roundup Ready gene if it is found to be present in wheat.\u201d <\/p>\n

The company still claims that its PCB chemicals, banned in 1976 as an imminent threat to human health and the environment, are also safe.<\/p>\n

Whether this is the first rogue wheat incident or not, the problem is that it\u2019s not likely to be the last.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is another serious breakdown of their field trial system, which endangers farmers and the entire wheat industry,\u201d said Bill Freese, science policy analyst for the Center for Food Safety, by telephone to Bloomberg Businessweek<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s especially troubling here because there hasn\u2019t been a field trial of Roundup Ready wheat in Oregon since 2001, so it\u2019s totally unclear where this is coming from.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mystery of the situation is not encouraging; that Japan is taking a stand with clear and dramatic economic consequences is — especially since it comes just days after two million people in 52 countries marched against Monsanto the GMO Giant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Japan\u2019s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries canceled its plan to buy 24,926 tons of western-white wheat from the U.S. Thursday after the discovery of genetically modified wheat in an Oregon field. The wheat is a strain that had been field-tested by Monsanto from 1998-2005, which withdrew its application for approval when it became clear … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7221,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67470"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67470\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}