National Strategy Session to Stop Genetically Engineered Trees
by the Global Justice Ecology Project, March 2005

Representatives of the Stop GE Tree Campaign will meet in Eugene, OR, March 1-3, to discuss strategy on how to stop the genetically engineering of trees in the U.S. and Canada. This Campaign, consisting of over a dozen organizations, together representing years of experience in grassroots organizing and more than a million members, poses a powerful challenge to the proponents of GE Trees.

"After a half dozen years of focusing action on genetically engineered food, many people are coming to see GE Trees as an even greater threat to the survival of the Earth's ecosystems," said Brian Tokar, Director of the Institute for Social Ecology Biotechnology Project. Tokar adds, "While we're reaffirming our commitment to get GE Foods out of our food supply, we're redoubling our efforts to prevent the creation of GE Tree plantations.

Trees interact with the ecosystems they are part of to a much greater extent than annual agricultural crops. GE Trees therefore pose an even greater risk to biodiversity than genetically engineered crops. The genetic engineering of trees can further be expected to deepen the environmental and social degradation of communities and ecosystems in the tradition of industrial monoculture.

In a highly controversial move, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, at their 2003 Conference of the Parties in Milan, Italy, agreed to allow the inclusion of GE Trees in so-called carbon "sinks" as part of the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol. These carbon "sinks" will supposedly offset carbon emissions, which contribute to global warming.

"Traits being engineered into trees include insect resistance, herbicide resistance, sterility and faster growth, among others," stated Anne Petermann, Co-Director of Global Justice Ecology Project. "If these traits escape into native forests, which is virtually guaranteed, it will lead to the destruction and contamination of native forests, which will in fact worsen global warming," she continued.

This campaign cannot wait. As we have seen with the introduction of genetically engineered crops in agriculture, once transgenic organisms are introduced into the environment, they rapidly contaminate their surroundings. Within only a few years of the introduction of genetically engineered corn and canola, for instance, genetic pollution was already widespread, perhaps to the point of no return. In the case of GE Trees, which pollinate for hundreds of miles, the threats are far more serious. Because GE Tree plantations have not yet been developed, however, it is still possible to stop their introduction and proliferation.

The Stop GE Trees Campaign includes the Sierra Club, Rainforest Action Network, Dogwood Alliance, Polaris Institute, Global Justice Ecology Project, WildLaw, Institute for Social Ecology Biotechnology Project, ForestEthics, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Forest Stewards Guild, Northwest Resistance Against Genetic Engineering and GE Free Maine.

For more information please visit the Global Justice Ecology Project.