| 11/July/24 | USDA Office of Inspector General must investigate SUNY GM American chestnut debacle – environmental group The Global Justice Ecology Project (GJEP) has requested that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Office of Inspector General investigate what has been described in media reports as a potential lack of transparency by the New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF), regarding fundamental errors in its attempt to produce a GM American chestnut tree, the Darling 58. In its letter to USDA OIG, GJEP cited a statement by The American Chestnut Foundation’s president in where he reportedly stated to New York Times Magazine, “as a nonprofit organisation, we can’t hide things from our members or the public. If we wouldn’t have brought this out, we would be complicit with a cover-up.” The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) originally was a strong supporter of ESF’s petition to deregulate the Darling 58 with the intent of releasing it into the wild to contaminate its wild relatives. On 8 December 2023 TACF publicly withdrew its support, citing “significant performance limitations” as well as a fundamental error which resulted years of field trials on the wrong variant. GJEP We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible by readers’ donations. Please support our work with a one-off or regular donation. Thank you! __________________________________________________________ Website: http://www.gmwatch.org Profiles: http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/GM_Watch:_Portal Twitter: http://twitter.com/GMWatch |
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