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Vancouver conference promoting genetically engineered trees for fuel
Vancouver, BC (10 September 2008) – Major biotech corporations are meeting at the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) conference in Vancouver today, to chart the use of genetically engineered (GE) crops and trees, as well as synthetic biology and nanotechnology, for fuel.
In response to this industry convention, Greenpeace, along with the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN) and the Society for a GE Free BC, are hosting a public forum where citizens can hear directly from conference attendees and learn how biotech corporations are cashing in on the climate, energy and food crisis to push dangerous new technologies.
“The use of crops and trees for biofuel will quickly exacerbate global warming,” said Josh Brandon, Greenpeace agriculture campaigner. “Already, more forests around the world are being destroyed to make way for monoculture plantations of trees and crops for fuel.”
Corn ethanol and similar “first generation” biofuels are now widely seen as a failure because they do not reduce greenhouse gases but are, according to the World Bank, the major cause of the food crisis. So industry is promising so-called “second generation” biofuels that critics’ say, promise to be an even greater danger to the environment.