May 11, 2004
Engineered wheat development halted
Tri-City Herald, by Anna King, Staff Writer
The world just wasn't ready for genetically engineered wheat.
Monsanto, a company known for its development of genetically altered corn and soybeans, announced Monday that it would abandon further development of its Roundup Ready wheat. The herbicide-resistant wheat had been in development by the company for seven years and was approaching commercial release.
Washington wheat experts say the company probably wasn't able to overcome the slow crop licensing process by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, skepticism over bioengineered food in major wheat export markets like Japan and unending questions about the product's long-term effects on humans and the environment.
Company spokesman Lee Quarles said the decision was made because of declining wheat acreage in the United States and Roundup Ready wheat's limited application for all wheat growers.
"Right now it didn't make business sense," Quarles said.
Wheat is a specialized crop, and the genetically altered wheat represented a small and shrinking segment of the market, he said. Spring wheat acreage in the United States has declined by 25 percent since 1997, the company's Web site said.
Monsanto will redirect its efforts and money to other crops like genetically engineered soy, corn and cotton, Quarles said. Monsanto has spent about $5 million for wheat development and research in 2004, or less than 1 percent of the company's $500 million research and development budget.
The move doesn't come as a total surprise to those closely following the product's development.
James Cook, dean of Washington State University's agriculture school and wheat expert, said engineered wheat may have faced more market opposition than soybeans and corn for a few reasons.
"Soybeans were approved rather early on," he said. But genetic engineering now is facing more controversy, Cook said. "We continued to raise more questions that developers have to answer, and it's been almost insurmountable."
And unlike corn and soybeans that often are used for animal food or oil, wheat is most commonly used to make bread, cookies and cake.
"We know this technology is safe," Cook said. "But bread is the stuff of life."
Eric Zakarison, program director for the Washington Wheat Commission, agreed.
"Wheat is almost holy," he said. "Wheat is always thought of something that is very pure."
Officials from Japan, Europe and other elsewhere in the world have been adamant in their refusal to import any genetically altered wheat, he said. And, he reasoned, company's decision was sound because if the market doesn't support it, growers can't raise it.
In several years, the company might be able to rekindle its plans for wheat with the addition of other traits that benefit not only growers, but consumers as well, Zakarison said. It may be possible in the future to develop a wheat with more protein, better gluten or improved health benefits, he said.
The company's news release said further wheat development could be as many as seven years away.
Although growers are generally enthusiastic with new and improved varieties of wheat, Zakarison said there were some concerns about Roundup Ready. A major concern was that the grain wouldn't be able to be kept separate from nongenetically engineered wheat, he said.
"Eighty-five percent of our crop is exported overseas, and we have to be mindful of that," he said.
For farmers exporting to countries like Japan, which don't have tolerance for genetically altered wheat, it could mean disaster if their wheat was mixed with even a few kernels of Roundup Ready, Zakarison said. Japan might stop all imports of the commodity.
And it would almost be impossible to keep the nongenetically engineered wheat separate in grain elevators, railcars and ships' holds, he said. "You would always have to have a tolerance of some amount."
Growers also are worried that a common weed often found in fields, like jointed goatgrass, could cross-pollinate with the specialized wheat and gain its resistance to herbicides.
"Some growers may view this as a blessing in disguise," Zakarison said.
Weeds resistant to Roundup also might be selected by using the same product year after year.
In Washington, many varieties of wheat are genetically altered, but not genetically engineered, Zakarison said.
Clearfield wheat also is a herbicide-resistant variety, but its makers used gene mutation, not genes from a different organism to create the desired trait.
That technology has been used for many crops now on the dinner table, Zakarison said. But some of the same concerns still apply. Clearfield wheat is not supposed to be used by growers every year, he said. But no one regulates its use.
"It's still up to the growers not to overuse the technology," Zakarison said. "There is no law that says they can't use it more often."
Opponents of engineered wheat and other crops hailed today's announcement as a victory.
"It's a big breakthrough," said Maurice Robinette, Eastern Washington organizer for the Washington Sustainable Food & Farming Network. "There is a lot of pressure from corporate America to rush. We are not convinced that all the environmental impacts have been addressed."