From 1998 to 2005, agricultural biotech giant Monsanto planted genetically engineered glyphosate-resistant wheat in experimental fields in 16 states. It was not intended for commercialization; genetically engineered wheat has never been approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for sale. But, nine years after Monsanto’s experiment was discontinued, strains of this GM wheat have been found in other wheat fields, the USDA announced on May 29.

Immediately after the news leaked, South Korea and Japan banned all U.S. imports of wheat. And a handful of wheat farmers have since sued Monsanto, charging that this genetic pollution is financially damaging their business, reported Natural News.

Monsanto’s other genetically engineered crops—including many currently available on supermarket shelves—have encountered a barrage of backlash as well, with debates raging about the need for GMO crops to be labeled as such. Environmentalists sound horns about GMOs spreading or “self-replicating,” and nutritionists question the long-term implications genetically engineered foods will have on our health.  

All this, and many of Monsanto’s efforts to make plants insect- and herbicide-resistant have backfired, as pests have developed immunity, reported OpposingViews.

Mike Adams, the health ranger editor for Natural News, has warned that self-replicating GMOs, like the glyphosate-resistant wheat, have sparked a “genetic apocalypse”—with the potential to threaten the global food supply and destroy the human race:

Mark my words: there will come a day when Americans will wish they had burned all the GM corn fields to the ground. But by then it will be too late. The blight will be upon us, and with it comes the starvation, the suffering, the desperation and the riots. Hunger turns all family men into savages, just as greed turns all corporate men into demons.