Loading....
Say No to GMO "Darling 58" Chestnut Trees
USDA Must Not Deregulate GMO Chestnut Trees
(The public comment deadline has been extended from December 27, 2022, to January 26, 2023, at 11:59PM Eastern Time.)
“In any revolutionary area, and biotechnology is a revolutionary area, most of our current ideas are wrong. Then I ask you, what the hell is the rush to apply these ideas… we’re still at the very beginning of understanding what we’re doing. The rush to apply these ideas is absolutely dangerous, because we don’t have a clue what the long-term impacts of our manipulations are going to be.” - Dr. David Suzuki, geneticist and educator
The USDA is accepting public comments on its plan to deregulate genetically engineered (GE/GMO) blight-tolerant “Darling 58” chestnut trees and allow the tree to be planted in wild forests.
If approved, this would be the first GE forest tree in North America, released to intentionally spread into wild ecosystems. This massive uncontrolled experiment is short-sighted and irresponsible.
The extremely short-term risk assessment studies, some of which do not even use Darling 58 pollen, are completely inadequate to understand the potential impacts of a GE tree that could live for hundreds of years and spread over large distances. There would be no way to recall them if something went wrong, years or decades later.
This GE tree is designed to spread and contaminate remaining wild American chestnuts, threatening their very existence. The long-term impacts on soils, beneficial fungi or forest ecosystems are unknown and could be devastating. This tree could also deal another blow to pollinators whose numbers are already crashing. And we don't know what potential health impacts the GE chestnuts, which are crossed with a wheat gene, will have on animals and humans eating them. The potential impact on the immune system, allergenicity or other unintended health effects has not been studied.
There are no long-term risk assessments of the impact of these GE trees on forests, wildlife, pollinators or soils and it is not possible to conduct such assessments on a tree known historically to live for hundreds of years.
Donald Edward Davis, research scholar for the Harvard Forest and the founding member of the Georgia Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation, says: “The supposition that genetically modified chestnut trees will behave in a specific and predictable way, based only on a decade of research, is premature, if not bad science. Indeed, studies have shown that the genomic structure of transgenic plants can mutate as a result of gene insertion events and exhibit unexpected traits after reproducing. It is also possible that GE chestnuts, as they grow older and larger, will not be able to repel the blight, particularly if the OxO enzyme, produced by a wheat gene inserted into the DNA of the American chestnut, becomes less prevalent in mature trees. Scientists must be able to predict the future outcomes of their experiments and cannot reliably do so in the case of GE chestnuts.”
Global Justice Ecology Project (GJEP) has carefully documented that the timber and biotechnology industries selected the GE chestnut as a Trojan Horse. It is designed to pave the way for the rubber-stamping of future industrial plantations of toxic herbicide-tolerant and insecticide-producing GE trees such as poplar, pine and eucalyptus. These plantations would rely heavily on toxic chemicals, use vast quantities of fresh water, threaten to replace natural forest ecosystems and displace the innocent animals within, along with rural and Indigenous communities globally.
In typical fashion, the biotech industry’s fear-mongering campaign is in full swing. The industry will tell you that the American chestnut tree is “functionally extinct” and we need GMO chestnuts to save it.
“And even today, as I point out in [my] book, there's over 400 million living American chestnuts out there in the forest. So one could argue that the chestnut is really not functionally extinct, that there are still a number of trees out there in the forest today, they're still reproducing, of course, nothing like they did prior to the 1950s. But, you know, they're not an endangered species, for sure,” says Dr. Davis.
Those trees are accompanied by many traditionally bred, non-GMO hybrid chestnut trees which are blight resistant, being successfully planted in different areas of the country.
The biotech industry campaign centers on creating fear that the beloved tree is functionally extinct. Their tactic is to gaslight anyone who opposes their trees, accusing them of fear-mongering. Gaslighters — people who try to control others through manipulation — will often accuse you of behaviors that they are engaged in themselves. Classic corporate manipulation tactic!
The GMO chestnut tree is a Trojan Horse. If approved, it will pave the way for commercialized, patented GMO forest trees with glyphosate-tolerant and insecticide-producing traits. It's more like saving biotech profits than saving a tree that doesn't need saving.
Make your voice heard. Comment to the USDA today and ask friends and family who care about our natural environment to do the same. The public comment deadline is January 26, 2023, at 11:59PM Eastern Time. Use the pre-written comment or edit to make it your own.
GET THE FACTS:
READ about the risks in the white paper Biotechnology For Forest Health? The Test Case of the Genetically Engineered American Chestnut.
LISTEN to conversation with Donald Edward Davis, research scholar for the Harvard Forest and the founding member of the Georgia Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation, on the GJEP Breaking Green Podcast: https://breakinggreen.buzzsprout.com/1785184/10404377-the-american-chestnut-an-environmental-history-and-cautionary-tale-with-author-dr-donald-davis
WATCH "A Silent Forest", a short documentary about GE trees, narrated by Dr. David Suzuki: https://vimeo.com/51040243
Sorry, we're not targeting any representatives in your district. But, you can still help!
Edit this message to tell users that can't take action (because of their location) how to contribute. For example, consider adding a link to a petition or donation page that you have created, or add social sharing options so that these supporters can help get the word out on social media.
Thank You for Taking Action!
Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to GMO/Toxin Free USA so we can continue educating the public and fighting against the corporate onslaught of GMOs and toxic chemicals.
The Comment Deadline Has Ended.
The comment period for this document is now closed. But you can still help!
Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to GMO/Toxin Free USA so we can continue educating the public and fighting against the corporate onslaught of GMOs and toxic chemicals.
Organization Name
Org Address Line 1
Org City, Org State Org Zip
Get in touch! Org Email or Org Phone
FOLLOW US