At the time of this writing, results were pending on comments solicited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) regarding a petition seeking deregulation of an American Chestnut variety developed using genetic engineering for fungal resistance to fight species blight. The USDA accepted comments through mid-October. They are under review. The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry submitted the petition.
According to published reports, if the USDA accepts the deregulation petition, the disease-tolerant Chestnut variety will be the first genetically-engineered (GE) tree approved for environmental conservation use in the U.S.
These GE Chestnut trees would be planted in the forests where they can breed with wild Chestnut trees to foster better resistance against disease. It is estimated that over the past century, Chestnut blight has caused three to five billion trees to succumb to the ravages of blight. The American Chestnut Foundation has been at the forefront leading this unprecedented mission to restore the American Chestnut tree. Find out more at www.acf.org.
