Egypt is the world’s largest importer of wheat (12 million tons/year). Self-sufficiency of wheat production has been Egypt’s objective for decades. Ambient ozone (O3) levels in Egypt are significantly high and result in significant reduction in wheat yield. Models showed that Egyptian wheat suffers 1-1.4 million tons of annual yield losses, based on the latest available O3 data from 2012. Current yield losses are expected to be higher than this estimate because O3 levels were expected to be increasing in Egypt and globally. Yet, there is no breeding efforts for O3 tolerance (neither in Egypt nor globally), because wheat growers, breeders and stakeholder are not well informed about the magnitude of O3 impacts on wheat, the lack of local outdoor exposure systems that provides the consistent O3 treatments needed for planned selection for O3 tolerance, the lacking information on the phenotypic diversity of O3 esponses of key breeding material, the lacking information on the genetic control of O3 tolerance and genetic markers associated with the trait, and the lack of trained scientists, technicians and undergraduate students on the standardized scoring O3 symptoms on wheat and selection for O3 tolerance. This research reports on the first screening of a historic, modern, and future Egyptian wheat varieties and breeding lines for O3 tolerance. Early results showed a wide range of O3 responses, with most of the tested entries being sensitive, suggesting the need and potential for breeding O3 tolerant varieties, suitable for the Egyptian conditions.