The case of the genetically engineered wheat in Oregon has been going around since 2013, when the crops appeared as if by magic in the east of the state; however, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) investigators close the case due to lack of evidence ... however, it turns out that the genetically engineered wheat of Oregon isn't the only cause for concern: this past summer, there another streak of it was found in Montana.
After the fiasco in the case of the genetically engineered wheat in Oregon (the investigation had to close recently as the government institution said in a statement that "after exhausting all leads, APHIS was unable to determine exactly how the GE wheat came to grow in the farmer's field"), it was concluded that the finding of genetically engineered wheat in Oregon was really an isolated incident.
However, at about the same time one case closed, a new one was opened, as suddenly genetically engineered wheat was also found at Montana State University's Southern Agricultural Research Center, where there had been government-approved field trials from 2000 to 2003; however, those crops were destroyed after the trials.
Interestingly enough, the genetically engineered wheat in Oregon and the new case in Montana are both from the same variety: one called Roundup Ready, which is produced by Monsanto and is therefore made to be resistant to the company's herbicide, Roundup.
While the investigations continue, the word from APHIS is that the appearance of the genetically modified strain of wheat in both states are actually isolated incidents.
When the genetically engineered wheat in Oregon was first discovered in 2013, it made the markets stumble, as the NPR website reports. While the product was never approved for sales, it did generate a scare in international buyers of U.S. wheat, as they thought it might have contaminated the entire crop; it even came to a point where Japan and South Korea stopped buying American wheat for a time.
