Wheat may be the next major genetically modified (GM) food crop to hit the market. A number of companies have wheat varieties in research and development at the moment, including those engineered to be resistant to herbicides and common pathogens. Monsanto has just completed the Canadian and U.S. regulatory submissions for its Roundup Ready wheat — wheat engineered to be resistant to the herbicide Roundup. If approved, this wheat could be the first GM variety in the marketplace.

Monsanto has hit a critical juncture, says company spokesman Michael Doane. "Right now we feel there's a lot of momentum and demand for this kind of technology on the part of growers," he says. "There is truly a pipeline of traits coming forward. The ability of wheat to improve the human diet is enormous. We are very excited about the possibilities for the future."

R. James Cook of Washington State University in Pullman, Oregon agrees that the future looks bright. "I'm very pro-biotechnology for wheat and barley." He notes that genetically engineered crops allow farmers to employ more environmentally friendly practices such as reduced pesticide use and no-till farming, which prevents erosion. Cook, as a plant pathologist, has spent his career trying to defeat common diseases, called root rot, against which wheat and barley have no natural resistance. He is currently working on using genetic engineering techniques to introduce rhizoctonia root rot resistance into barley and, eventually, into wheat.

Overall, the development and marketing of biotech wheat has lagged behind that of other biotech food crops such as corn, canola, and soybeans. This is in part because the genetics of wheat are quite complicated. But it is also because wheat farmers are very concerned about consumer acceptance of GM wheat.

And, wheat growers may have reason to be cautious about consumer attitudes. A collection of consumer and farm groups, for example, recently filed a petition with the USDA to stop the development of Monsanto's Roundup Ready wheat.

"Bread is the staff of life," says Jim Bair, vice president of the Washington, D.C.-based North American Millers' Association. "People assume consumers are more concerned [about GM wheat than other crops]. The question is: how do those concerns affect purchasing behavior?"

Wheat farmers say they would like to see the benefits of the technology. At the same time, they're wary of the potential impact on markets. As a result, farmers and industry are beginning to discuss conditions under which GM wheat might be introduced.

"We want to see GM wheat introduced at the appropriate time. We're not there yet but it is important to address the questions so that we'll be there eventually," says Daren Coppock of the National Wheat Growers Association (NWGA) in Washington, D.C. "Most farmers look at GM wheat as just another tool in the toolbox [to improve their crop] — but they realize not all consumers see it that way."

At a recent meeting, Coppock's organization laid out several steps for federal review that they would like to see in place before GM wheat products could reach the market. Most of the steps are aimed at bolstering consumer confidence in the safety of GM wheat products. For example, NWGA's proposal requires companies developing GM wheat products to notify the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before testing or marketing such crops. The proposal also calls for FDA to examine the company's research to determine whether the product is at least as safe as non-GM wheat with the company bearing the burden of proving that the product is safe. In addition, NWGA proposes that all safety data be made available to the public for comment before FDA rules on the crop's safety. Coppock also emphasized the system should be comprehensive without being overly burdensome.

"Our industry is export-oriented and everyone is cautious," says Coppock. He says that a strict regulatory system — which may require new legislation (or authority from the FDA) — would ease consumer's fears of GM products like wheat.

A large percentage of U.S. wheat is exported to countries where consumers have voiced opposition to GM technology in the current crops already on the market, so concerns about meeting the demands of overseas buyers are critically important. About 70 percent of the Upper Midwest's hard red spring wheat, for example, goes to Europe or Japan, so market acceptance is crucial for wheat farmers if they want to hold on to their export markets.

Monsanto, for its part, has promised to wait for regulatory approval in the U.S., and Canada — the largest exporters — and in Japan — one of the largest importers — as well as for agreements with major export markets and for grain handling protocols before introducing Roundup Ready wheat. If major markets reject GM wheat, however, growers would be forced to segregate GM from conventional wheat, which brings extra costs.

In addition to the National Association of Wheat Growers, the U.S. Wheat Associates and the Wheat Export Trade Education Committee want to make sure that a reliable and workable program for segregating products is in place before GM wheat is introduced. The groups also support the establishment of a threshold level for accidental inclusion of GM traits in bulk wheat or food products.

Even with a strict segregation regime in place, growers are concerned they may lose market share if GM wheat becomes widespread and accidentally co-mingles with non-GM crops. Most wheat self-fertilizes, so interbreeding between non-GM wheat and GM wheat is much less likely to happen than with crops like corn and canola. However, even wheat's low rate of cross-pollination (1-3% within 30 meters) could cause problems for neighboring farmers depending on the GM trait and the circumstances. Nevertheless, such cross-contamination also could become an issue if a GM wheat variety has a survival edge over conventional varieties.

Anita Brule-Babel of the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg says that when a crop carries a trait that offers a likely a survival advantage such as herbicide-resistance, it doesn't take much gene flow for the traits to spread. Such selection increases the chance that a "volunteer" GM crop will grow in a non-GM field or that such traits will persist if transferred to non-GM crops.

In addition to biological considerations, everyone up and down the food chain is aware that accidents can happen. Inadvertent mixing, even with careful segregation policies and processes, is a huge concern for the food industry, says Bair. The milling industry continues to test corn crops for the presence of StarLink, a GM corn that was approved for use only in animal feed but accidentally made it into human food, he says. Very sensitive detection systems sometimes find small traces of contamination even two years after the product was pulled from the market. Such testing requires recordkeeping and slows down business, all a burden on industry, he says. "And this is for something that, as far as we know, had no health consequences," he says, referring to the fact that the CDC found no evidence for allergic reactions to StarLink. "It's not without justification that we're sensitized to how these products are received in the marketplace."

But consumer acceptance might improve if consumers could see a benefit from a product, Bair says. "Right now, no benefits [from GM wheat] accrue farther downstream than farmers." He suggests that companies should wait to introduce GM wheat until they have a product that can be pulled, not pushed, through the market. For example, developing wheat without the allergens that cause people to be intolerant to gluten (so-called celiac disease) means an additional 2 million Americans might be able to buy a particular product, he says. "Now that's a huge incentive."

Wheats that are easier or faster to process, or have enhanced nutritional benefits, are also products that might be more wholeheartedly embraced by the marketplace, he says.

"We support biotechnology. We think it has terrific potential to improve product quality and reduce use of pesticides and chemicals," says Bair. But, he adds, "Our customers are telling us they have very serious concerns or are flat-out opposed to GM wheat....While this opposition may have nothing to do with science, the customer is always right."