Watch Out For Those Genetically Modified Hamburger Buns!

In this space, I've frequently shown how GMO fear mongering plays out in the media. The latest frightful example aired Monday on CNN. It was a piece about the mysterious genetically modified (GM) wheat recently found in an Oregon farm field. First, some quick background: In the early to mid-2000s, Monsanto field tested GM wheat in 16 states. But as NPR reported, "the country's wheat growers told the company that they did not want it." So Monsanto never sought to commercialize the crop and stopped its field tests in 2005. Nobody knows how this isolated strand of GM wheat suddenly reappeared. Is it sabotage, as Monsanto and others have suggested, or a case of gene flow? Although the U.S. Department of Agriculture says the GM wheat has not spread, there is fallout for Monsanto and repercussions for American wheat farmers. On Monday, CNN dove into the story with a 3-minute ...