Published on December 15, 2023, The American Chestnut Foundation Bails as GE Chestnut Develops Growth and Fertility Problems and Fails to Resist the Blight
was written by Anne Petermann of the Global Justice Ecology Project.
Synopsis: On December 8th, 2023, The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) revealed it was withdrawing its support for the Darling 58 GE blight-resistant chestnut (D58). The Darling 58 Chestnut is a genetically engineered tree variety being developed by the State University of New York Forestry School (SUNY-ESF). It is intended to resist the chestnut blight fungus that almost eradicated the American Chestnut. Currently, the D58 chestnut is the subject of a petition for deregulation by USDA. TACF is withdrawing its support because the GE trees given to them by SUNY-ESF were not Darling 58 but Darling 54, a different GE event, but primarily because the trees they were given failed to thrive even in the absence of the blight. According to documentation on the TACF website the GE trees were stunted, often chlorotic (yellow), and often developed brown leaves. Moreover, the GE chestnuts did not effectively resist the blight fungus. The onus is now on SUNY-ESF to withdraw the GE Chestnut petition or for USDA to reject it, as the introduction of genetically inferior GE trees represents a danger to surviving non-GE Chestnuts.
Synopsis: On December 8th, 2023, The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) revealed it was withdrawing its support for the Darling 58 GE blight-resistant chestnut (D58). The Darling 58 Chestnut is a genetically engineered tree variety being developed by the State University of New York Forestry School (SUNY-ESF). It is intended to resist the chestnut blight fungus that almost eradicated the American Chestnut. Currently, the D58 chestnut is the subject of a petition for deregulation by USDA. TACF is withdrawing its support because the GE trees given to them by SUNY-ESF were not Darling 58 but Darling 54, a different GE event, but primarily because the trees they were given failed to thrive even in the absence of the blight. According to documentation on the TACF website the GE trees were stunted, often chlorotic (yellow), and often developed brown leaves. Moreover, the GE chestnuts did not effectively resist the blight fungus. The onus is now on SUNY-ESF to withdraw the GE Chestnut petition or for USDA to reject it, as the introduction of genetically inferior GE trees represents a danger to surviving non-GE Chestnuts.
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