Lawsuit against Monsanto after Oregon Wheat Incident

Monsanto has been sued by Pacific Northwest wheat farmers and the Center for Food Safety for jeopardizing the food supply and export market.

The group of farmers and the food safety group sued Monsanto Co. seeking injunctive relief and damages from the company after the discovery of genetically engineered wheat in Oregon.

The lawsuit has followed last week’s Department of Agriculture decision of unapproving genetically modified wheat found in Oregon which caused Asian countries, including Japan and South Korea, to stop imports from the U.S. until further testing is made.

Monsanto considers the incident is isolated after their testing, and that a possible cause of the contamination could be sabotage.

The wheat found in an Oregon field was experimental and was genetically engineered to survive applications of glyphosate herbicide. It has not been field-tested in the U.S. since 2005, the USDA informed.

“Monsanto has put our farmer’s wheat market at grave risk. Billions of dollars, and our food supply, is at risk because of Monsanto’s negligence. They must be held accountable.” said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director for the Center for Food Safety.