rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/petition/stop-ge-trees?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-petition-area-stop-ge-trees' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> Orin Petermann https://actionnetwork.org/users/global-justice-ecology-project/profile https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/petitions/photos/000/087/099/normal/Asheville_tuesday_banner_for_petition.jpg Tree biotechnology companies and researchers want the US government to legalize their plans to distribute and/or sell genetically engineered eucalyptus and American chestnut trees.  A petition for legalization of GE eucalyptus trees is already pending with the USDA and GE American chestnut researchers hope to submit a request soon. If either is approved, it would be the first-ever GE forest tree to be legalized in the U.S. and would open the door to many other genetically engineered forest trees like poplar and pine. The unregulated release of GE trees into the environment, or directly into forests, could wreak havoc on wildlife, insects, songbirds and communities.   YOU can help us stop them!  Sign on below! Non-native eucalyptus plantations would be huge biologically dead zones devoid of biodiversity. And combined with the hot dry winds and droughts of climate change, they become "explosively flammable"--a huge wildfire risk for regions already suffering droughts. Just look at what happened in Portugal in June 2017 when 64 people were killed in firestorms fueled by eucalyptus plantations. GE American chestnut trees are planned for release directly into forests with the intention of contaminating wild American chestnut trees. Researchers claim this would be for forest health, but the long-term impacts on forests are unknown. Forests are incredibly complex ecosystems we barely understand. Trees can live for centuries. They can spread their pollen and seeds for hundreds of miles. They interact with pollinators, songbirds, insects, mammals, not to mention human communities that depend on them. How genetically engineered tree genes will respond in a wild forest ecosystem to environmental stresses years or decades from now is impossible to know. If problems occur, they will be impossible to reverse. There is no way to know or assess the risks.  The Federation of German Scientists points out: “... due to the complexity of trees as organisms with large habitats and numerous interactions, currently no meaningful and sufficient risk assessment of GE trees is possible, and especially a trait-specific risk assessment is not appropriate.” 284,000 people have already submitted comments to the USDA demanding they reject GE eucalyptus trees.  Add your voice to the growing movement against GE trees. Sign on now to demand the USDA reject GMO trees!  Help stop them before it is too late! https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stop-ge-trees