US exports about 9 billion worth of its wheat to Asian countries whose consumers want nothing to do with GMO food. In a strange sequence of events, a farmer in Oregon reported his suspicion about GMO wheat in his field to US Department of Agriculture and quite suddenly Japan and South Korea place a ban on import of wheat from the US and a farmer in Kansas files a law suit against Monsanto Corporation for negligence in keeping GMO wheat from US fields.

The suspected GMO seed in this case is of the variety that has earned itself the nick name “terminator seeds“. Monsanto Corporation developed the first Roundup Ready seeds as early as 1996.  They named them for the fact that they are resistant to the weed killer “Roundup” that is popular in the US, both in home gardens and in farmlands. Roundup contains Glyphosate which the EPA regulates as a toxic chemical for its concentration levels in ground water. “Roundup ready” seeds require fields to be sprayed with the herbicide “roundup”, increasing possibility of humans consuming excess of Glyphosate.

Monsanto stopped pursuing an approval from US Government in 2005 for Roundup Ready wheat after trials in sixteen states in the US. Consumer sentiments about toxicity in food supply is one reason. Increasing concerns about the impact of Roundup Ready GMO on human beings is the second. Most Asian and European countries will not import GMO food due to popular consumer sentiments there. For these reason, Monsanto stashed away the abandoned Roundup Ready wheat seeds to a facility in Colorado. It has not shipped the Roundup Ready wheat in the US. The investigations are now on to find out how the farmer in Oregon encountered wheat plant that survived a healthy spray of Roundup!