On 20 December 2019 NPR’s Short Wave podcast released the episode “What Happened to the American Chestnut Tree?” The campaign’s opposition to the genetically engineered (GE) American chestnut is mentioned at the following time stamps:
11:22 “In March, two members of the foundation’s Massachusetts-Rhode Island chapters stepped down over this, a group of activists released a white paper saying this would be a “massive and irreversible experiment.” They’re fearful this could change the ecosystem in ways we just can’t predict.”
12:00 “Basically human intervention caused the blight, so human interventions should fix it. But of course if this happens with the chestnut tree it could open the door for genetically engineering other trees-forest biotechnology-and there’s public opposition to that idea.”
Click here to listen to the full episode.