Sign On: Help Stop Risky, Unproven Genetically Engineered Trees
MS. CINDY ECK, BRS, US DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
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 today!
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!
Petition by
To:
MS. CINDY ECK, BRS, US DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
From:
[Your Name]
We the undersigned, demand the USDA unconditionally reject unproven and risky genetically engineered (GE) trees due to the likely impacts they will have on forests, biodiversity and forest dependent communities.
Due to known, unknown, and unknowable risks of GE trees, any request by companies or researchers for USDA approval of genetically engineered trees must be rejected and the release of these trees prohibited.
If any GE forest tree is deregulated in the U.S., it could also open the door to other genetically engineered forest trees with additional risks and dangers.
Non-native plantations of GE eucalyptus trees would be huge biologically dead zones devoid of biodiversity. And combined with the hot dry winds of climate change, they become "explosively flammable"--a huge wildfire risk for regions already suffering droughts. Just look at what happened in Portugal's eucalyptus plantations in June of 2017, when 64 people were killed by raging eucalyptus fires.
GE American chestnut trees are planned for release directly into forests with the intention of contaminating wild American chestnut trees. 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.
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 that especially a trait-specific risk assessment is not appropriate.”
The USDA Must Apply the Precautionary Principle and Obey Public Opposition.
More than 284,000 people have already signed on to a demand for a USDA rejection of GE eucalyptus trees. The USDA must heed overwhelming public opposition, and apply the Precautionary Principal.
GE trees must be prohibited.