The stories I’ve been reading…

But first a gratuitous wheat shot, because I can’t resist those amber waves of grain:

wheat

1. It was reported last week that Monsanto’s Roundup-ready (glyphosate-resistant) wheat was uncovered in Oregon.  The catch?  Monsanto field-tested the wheat nearly 10 years ago but never released it for commercial use.  Roundup-ready corn and soybeans, which are resistant to the herbicide glyphosate, are widely grown in the US. However, these crops are generally processed or used as animal feed, whereas wheat is consumed directly by humans. There is global alarm over genetically modified (GM) foods in our diets and prolonged exposure to these foreign genes. Monsanto dropped the GM wheat project over producers’ trade concerns. As a result of this finding in Oregon, Japan has suspended wheat imports from the Pacific Northwest. Japan is the top importer of US wheat. So far there is no evidence that GM wheat has entered the food supply, but one has wonder if the presence of GM wheat on one Oregon farm is a unique occurrence.

Update: Monsanto is being sued by farmers in the Pacific Northwest over loss of business due to the GM wheat scare.

2. Scientific American reports another contributing factor of honeybee colony collapse may be the alterations to domesticated honeybee diets.  Of course the natural food source of the honeybee is its honey, but when we harvest it for human use the bees are given sugary syrups instead.  Most researchers agree that pesticide use is the predominate cause of colony collapse, but poor nutrition certainly adds to the bees’ stress, I would think.

What have you been reading?