Campaign to Stop Genetically Engineered Trees
Growing Movement Against Genetically Engineered Trees Protests Globally at Brazilian Embassies and Consulates
New York (2 April 2015) – Concerned citizens demonstrated at Brazilian consulates and embassies located around the world this week, as part of a
second week of global protests demanding that the Brazilian government reject an industry request to commercialize
genetically engineered (GE) eucalyptus trees.
In Brussels, Belgium, dozens of people representing organizations from around the world traveled from the European
Parliament to the Brazilian Embassy where they rallied against GE trees and delivered letters of protest. In Melbourne,
Australia, protesters dressed as koalas, owls and other forest creatures rallied against GE eucalyptus trees at the
Brazilian consulate. Other demonstrations took place in Europe and North America.
This week's actions follow a wave of protests against GE trees at Brazilian embassies and consulates on 3 March 2015.
These protests were directed at a 5 March 2015 meeting of the Brazilian Technical Commission on Biosafety (CTNBio),
which was to decide whether or not to approve a request by FuturaGene to commercially release GE eucalyptus trees in
Brazil. The meeting was interrupted by 300 peasants organized by La Via Campesina and eventually cancelled [1].
Earlier on the morning of 5 March, 1,000 women of the Brazil Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) from the states of São
Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais occupied the operations of FuturaGene, destroying seedlings of GE eucalyptus
trees [2].
A woman from The MST who took part in the action stated, “The landless women came here to denounce, to reject, to say
that this model of agribusiness is the model of death, not of life. We the landless women are here to defend a model of
life, defend food sovereignty, and defend agrarian land reform.”
CTNBio and FuturaGene rescheduled their meeting regarding GE eucalyptus trees for 9 April, sparking the latest series of
protests against GE eucalyptus this week.
"These weeks of protest against GE trees in Brazil demonstrate the renewed commitment of organizations, activists and
social movements around the world to ensure that GE trees are never legalized," stated Ruddy Turnstone, a campaigner
with Global Justice Ecology Project and the Campaign to STOP GE Trees who rallied at the Miami, Florida Consulate on 31
March.
In November 2014 scientists, foresters, agronomists, Indigenous Peoples and other experts from six continents met in
Asunción, Paraguay to discuss the problem of genetically engineered trees. They recently finalized the Asunción
Declaration, which calls for the outright rejection of all GE trees, including those in field trials [3].
In the US, a similar request to the USDA from GE tree company ArborGen to legalize their GE eucalyptus trees is
currently pending [4].
The Campaign to STOP GE Trees is an international alliance of organizations mobilized to protect forests and
biodiversity and to support communities threatened by the dangerous release of genetically engineered trees into the
environment.
ENDS