MEDIA ALERT – 13 May 2019
CONTACT: +1.314.210.1322; st***@gj******.local
WEBINAR DETAILS FOR TUESDAY, May 14th TELEPRESS CONFERENCE
“Who is Behind the Effort to Legalize Genetically Engineered American Chestnut Trees and Why it Matters”
To access the webinar, you should register at the following link prior to the event.
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/0eb87d73c1fbc8bd8c34be5db4a05ad8
After registering you will be sent an email with detail on how to join the webinar.
For any support issues email st***@gj******.local
TELEPRESS CONFERENCE
“Who is Behind the Effort to Legalize Genetically Engineered American Chestnut Trees and Why it Matters”
Damning new White Paper on GE American chestnut trees, Resignation of American Chestnut Foundation Board members, response from Indigenous groups and who is funding the research will be discussed
WHAT: A national network of organizations, scientists, naturalists, farmers, Indigenous Peoples and others will hold an online telepress conference to discuss the findings of their recently released white paper titled, Biotechnology for Forest Health? The Test Case of the Genetically Engineered Chestnut, which addresses the effort to win government approval for the unregulated planting of genetically engineered American Chestnut trees in the wild.
BiofuelWatch’s Dr. Rachel Smolker, co-author of the white paper, is one of the telepress conference speakers. A recent debate between Dr. Smolker and proponents of the deregulation plan occurred during NPR’s April 29th On Point program.
Lois Breault-Melican, a former board member of the American Chestnut Foundation who publicly resigned over the organization’s support of the plan will join the conference.
WHO: Global Justice Ecology Project, BiofuelWatch, Indigenous Environmental Network, Rural Coalition and Lois Breault-Melican: former board member of the American Chestnut Foundation
WHEN: May 14, 2019 – 2 p.m. Eastern – 1 p.m. Central – Noon Mountain – 11 a.m. Pacific
WHERE: To access the webinar, you should register at the following link prior to the event. https://zoom.us/webinar/register/0eb87d73c1fbc8bd8c34be5db4a05ad8
After registering you will be sent an email with detail on how to join the webinar.
WHY: “UN scientists are about to issue a scathing 1,800 page report on the dire state of the environment,” stated Anne Petermann, GJEP Executive Director. “At the same time, corporations and researchers are promoting the unregulated release of new, unproven GE trees into forests. Our new white paper highlights the risks of this plan. These transgenic trees are ‘totally outside the limits of biologic experience’ to quote Rachel Carson, who warned of the devastating impacts of the hundreds of new, unproven and ultimately dangerous chemicals entering the environment every year. We must not repeat the same mistake and make the ecological crisis worse by releasing GE trees into forests.”
