March against Monsanto 2013. langellephoto.org
On 16 February 2015, Christine Graef of Mint Press published an article titled “USDA Moving Toward Less Oversight, Regulation Regarding New GE Trees.”
The article explains how “without regulatory oversight or public consultation, the USDA [has allowed] for the commercial production of a new GE pine variety.”
The article details the concerns and dangers of this USDA decision to allow GE tree company ArborGen to deploy GE loblolly pines across the US South where they also grow in native forests.
Anne Petermann, Executive Director of Global Justice Ecology Project and Coordinator of the International Campaign to STOP GE Trees, and Rachel Smolker, Co-director of Biofuelwatch and member of the Steering Committee of the Campaign to STOP GE Trees, explain the dangers of developing these GE pine trees and the inevitability of those trees irreversibly contaminating their native wild relatives.
The article also includes interviews with both ArborGen and the Institute for Forest Biotechnology, both strongly supportive of the genetic engineering of trees.
Check out the article for a detailed examination of this issue.
To send a letter of protest to ArborGen and the USDA against this GE pine tree, click here.