Genetically Modified Wheat Found in a Field in Washington State

The unapproved crop is resistant to glyphosate in the weedkiller Roundup, but doesn’t seem to have entered the food supply.

Written byCatherine Offord

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Genetically modified wheat has been discovered growing in a field in Washington State, according to a United States Department of Agriculture announcement on Friday (June 7). The unapproved plants are resistant to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s controversial weedkiller Roundup, but there is currently no evidence that they have entered the food supply, the agency’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) says.

“USDA is collaborating with our state, industry and trading partners, and we are committed to providing all our partners with timely and transparent information about our findings,” the statement reads.

There are no approved genetically engineered (GM) wheat varieties, although GM versions of the plant have been identified in isolated incidents in two other US states—Montana and Oregon—and in Alberta, Canada, since 2013.

Responding to the discovery, a spokesperson for Monsanto’s parent organization Bayer suggested that the site where the crops were ...

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Meet the Author

Catherine Offord
After undergraduate research with spiders at the University of Oxford and graduate research with ants at Princeton University, Catherine left arthropods and academia to become a science journalist. She has worked in various guises at The Scientist since 2016. As Senior Editor, she wrote articles for the online and print publications, and edited the magazine’s Notebook, Careers, and Bio Business sections. She reports on subjects ranging from cellular and molecular biology to research misconduct and science policy. Find more of her work at her website.
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