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The Wild American Chestnut is on its Way Back

Peterman, Anne; Taylor, Steve
http://www.counterpunch.org/2022/12/22/the-wild-american-chestnut-is-on-its-way-back/

Publisher:  Counterpunch
Date Written:  22/12/2022
Year Published:  2022  
Resource Type:  Article

There is a petition in front of the US Department of Agriculture requesting permission to release genetically engineered American chestnut trees into wild forests. However, naturalist Bernd Heinrich finds clear evidence of a natural revival of the nostalgic chestnut tree, and many fear that GE trees would threaten this natural comeback.

Abstract: 
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Extract


“Why would anyone want to risk the revival of the native wild American chestnut by spreading genetically engineered chestnut trees through our forests?” asked Melican.

Dr. Donald Davis, author of the new book The American Chestnut an Environmental History and founding member of the Georgia chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation, has challenged the notion put forward by GE chestnut proponents that the American Chestnut is “functionally extinct,” noting that there are at least 400 million American Chestnuts in the wild. In a recent opinion piece in The Hill, Dr. Davis, a former Fulbright Fellow and part time researcher at Harvard Forest, warned of the dangers of releasing a GE variety. He has called the proposal to release GE American chestnuts into wild forests a “dangerous, irreversible experiment.”

Yet this is exactly the proposal being evaluated by the USDA. In 2020 researchers from the SUNY school of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) submitted a request to the USDA to deregulate “Darling 58” GE American chestnuts for unmonitored, widespread release in US forests. On November 10th, 2022, the USDA called for a very short 45 day public comment period on its draft decision to approve this request, ending December 27th. Cramming the comment period into the holiday season undermines the ability of people to participate in the decision-making around the unprecedented plan to deregulate genetically engineered (GE) trees for spreading into the wild.

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