Lucy Sharratt is the Coordinator of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN), which brings together 16 groups to research, monitor and raise awareness about issues relating to genetic engineering in food and farming. CBAN is a project on the shared platform of MakeWay Charitable Society and a member of the national and international Campaign to Stop GE Trees.
Into the Wild: GMOs head for the forest
Watershed Sentinel 25 January 2021
Lucy Sharratt
American chestnut, Halifax Public Gardens, Nova Scotia | Photo ©CBAN 2020
Genetic engineering is set to leave the farm for the forest. After over twenty years of growing genetically engineered (GE or genetically modified) crop plants in North America, researchers are now proposing to plant GE trees in the forests of eastern US and Canada. This is a precedent-setting request that asks us to accept, even embrace, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the wild.
The first genetically engineered forest tree is now being considered for release into the wild. The US Department of Agriculture is now assessing a proposal from university researchers to plant a GE American chestnut tree in forests. The researchers have genetically engineered the tree to tolerate the blight Cryphonectria parasitica that decimated American chestnut populations in Canada and the US in the 1900’s.
This GE tree is engineered with a gene from wheat, key to creating the blight-tolerant trait, as well as genetic material from four other species: a plant related to mustard, two different bacteria, and a plant virus. Together, the use of this new genetic material has resulted in the “Darling 58” GE American chestnut tree.
To read the full article visit: https://watershedsentinel.ca/articles/into-the-wild-gmos-head-for-the-forest/
Ecology is basic . Before any plantings are made they need to know how this NEW ENGINEERED ORGANISM will affect ALL the OTHER LIFE FORMS that will interact with it.
IT is that basic . That simple. The agreement of ALL peoples and nations needs to be sought. This is not their right …to infect possibly the whole world if this EXPERIMENT goes wrong. NOTE the other countries that could be affected . The Americas are two joined continents. The Arctic is melting and Europe and Asia are joined at the Pole. There is no way they can predict the possibilities of this organism. The science is not sufficiently adavnced.