A crop contaminated by altered wheat seed had to be destroyed recently. This prohibited seed was not approved for dissemination yet it was found in the heart of NW wheat country. Never mind the flawed logic involved in testing unknown wheat crops near other wheat crops. Or even testing this wheat outside of a sealed laboratory.
Now Monsanto is trying to shift the blame to unknown activists that somehow accessed this seed that was supposedly restricted from public access by Monsanto. To what end contaminating the food supply would bring is unknown. Blaming activists for this is ludicrous considering the errors already inflicted on our food supply by Monsanto, there is ample evidence of their disregard in the killing off of bees alone to condemn this chemical company.
The spokesperson named is apparently unaware that seeds are actually designed to spread. Through a variety of methods. That is their sole purpose.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Monsanto Co. is floating the theory that some of the company’s detractors may have intentionally planted genetically modified wheat discovered in an Oregon field last month.
The St. Louis-based company said in a call with reporters Friday that sabotage is the most likely scenario partly because the modified wheat was not distributed evenly throughout the field and found in patches. Robb Fraley, Monsanto’s executive vice president and chief technology officer, said that is the ‘‘pattern you would expect’’ if someone had dispersed the seeds.
The Agriculture Department is investigating the discovery of the wheat, which is not approved for farming in the United States. The department has declined to speculate on what caused the wheat to sprout in Oregon but has said it appears to be an isolated incident.
That might fly if there are not other ways seeds spread. Such as the random patterns of birds:
Or just Gaia herself spreading these genes the same way that has worked for eons, pollen.
Pollination vectors: Pollen is effectively distributed by insects and is the main mechanism for hybridisation in some species (e.g. legumes). Pollen produced by some crops, for example oilseed rape, can be dispersed over considerable distances by both wind and insects. The weather can affect the behaviour of pollinating insects on the crop and the occurrence of airborne pollen movement so the amount of cross-pollination can vary significantly from crop to crop and day to day. The numbers and even species of natural pollinating insects can vary considerably in their contribution to successful pollination (Williams, 1987). The bumblebee (Bombus sp.) is an example of a pollinator, which moves only short distances between flowers so the majority of pollen is deposited in the immediate surroundings of the pollen source. By contrast, the foraging habits of the pollen beetle (Meligethes aeneus) mean that they emigrate from a crop in large numbers and often fly over long distances (Skogsmyr, 1994).
Environmental factors: Air currents and wind are important for the dispersal of pollen for a wide range of species. Pollen can be lifted high in the atmosphere and distributed over long distances. Dispersal patterns are a product of the nature of the pollen (shape, size, density, nature of surface) and the air currents occurring over the crop at pollen dehiscence. (McCartney & Lacey, 1990). Pollen released on the airflow can settle by gravity, can be removed by precipitation, be absorbed into water droplets, or can impact onto surfaces including vegetation, buildings, soil and water bodies. The relative importance of these sinks and the impacts they might have will vary with factors such as the terminal velocities of the pollen grains, climate, local vegetation and topography (Treu & Emberlin, 2000).
Weather: Pollen dispersal can be heavily influenced by the weather and changes in temperature, humidity and light, as well as wind and rain. For example, studies on pollen dispersal by Scott (1970) over several years revealed that the average concentration of oilseed rape pollen during one day of one year measured 1.4% of that on the same day the following year. This was due to heavy rain and high humidity on the first day compared with sunshine and low humidity on that day a year later. Wind strength can also have an important role in distributing pollen grains significant distances within their viability periods.
Local environment: Patterns of pollen dispersal can be heavily influenced by variable factors in the immediate local environment such as the nature of the plant canopy, surrounding vegetation and topography. Wind velocity and airflow are affected by topography, potentially influencing pollen movement from a pollen source to receptor plants.