8-4 NWR GMO Contaminated Wheat

Listen to this soundbite from several years ago. It's from Glen Squires, CEO of the Washington Grain Commission, comments.

SQUIRES: "It looks like there's opportunity for growers who were affected to source or apply for compensation regarding any negative impact for them during that time, and it sounds like Monsanto wants to move forward with the growers and that's all positive." Those comments were made in relation to Monsanto GMO wheat somehow making its way into a non-GMO wheat field and ultimately being shipped off to Japan and South Korea.

Well the exact same thing has happened again. Japan and South Korea have both taken steps to block certain imports of U.S. wheat after unapproved genetically-modified (GMO) plants from Monsanto Co seeds were found growing in Washington state.

In other news and related to a number of stories that we have done, my northwest.com reports a bat-killing fungus detected in Washington state this year likely originated in Eastern United States and not Europe or Asia. The U.S. Geological Survey says it remains unclear how white-nose syndrome turned up east of Seattle in March, whether by other bats or human activities.

But findings by the USGS and U.S. Forest Service published Wednesday could help wildlife managers monitor the devastating disease.

The discovery of the fungus in a little brown bat near North Bend was the first time it was detected in Western North America. Because the fungus was found near an international port, scientists tried to figure out whether it had roots abroad.