Photo: protest against Monsanto’s toxic agrochemicals and GMOs in Asuncion, Paraguay, 2014. Photo: Langelle/ photolangelle.org
Campaign To Stop GE Trees
For Immediate Release
June 5, 2020
Statement on the Recent Dicamba Decision
Monsanto’s Pesticide Unlawful – Drift Damages Millions of Acres
New York – Today on World Environment Day, the Campaign to STOP Genetically Engineered Trees issued a statement welcoming the Federal ruling by a three-judge panel yesterday that the Trump administration’s EPA approval of the highly toxic dicamba pesticide for use on genetically engineered crops was unlawful.
“The ruling underscores a failure of U.S. regulatory agencies to protect the public and the environment from corporations like Monsanto and Bayer that profit from genetically engineering and poisoning nature.
“The EPA and US Department of Agriculture are expected to soon consider a petition to legalize genetically engineered American chestnut trees, designed for release into forests to spread and contaminate wild relatives with pollen drift. Unlike an herbicide, the use of which can be halted, once released into the wild, GE trees cannot be recalled.
“Given the lack of both ability and credibility of agencies to evaluate the long-term risks to forest ecosystems or public health, the fact that the GE American chestnut is unlikely to successfully lead to “restoration” of the species, and the potential violation of the rights of Indigenous Peoples to territorial sovereignty, the petition must be rejected.
“At a time when our country is contending with multiple crises, this historic decision is a welcome victory, and we congratulate the organizations that brought this legal action: The Center for Food Safety, Center for Biological Diversity, National Family Farm Coalition and Pesticide Action Network-US.”
Contact: Steve Taylor, Press Secretary, Campaign to STOP GE Trees +1.314.210.1322 or Theresa Church, Campaign to STOP GE Trees +1.716.931.5833
Campaign to STOP GE Trees white paper on the dangers of releasing GE trees into forests:
Biotechnology for Forest Health? The Test Case of the Genetically Engineered American Chestnut
Executive Summary: https://stopgetrees.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Biotechnology-for-Forest-Health-The-Test-Case-of-the-Genetically-Engineered-American-Chestnut-Summary.pdf