Press Release

Canada Opposes a Global Moratorium on Genetically Engineered Trees and Contributes to Delay in Action at UN

Bonn,
Germany, Friday May 30 2008 - Today in Bonn Germany, the Canadian
Government's opposition to a bid by African countries to establish a
global moratorium on genetically engineered (GE) trees contributed to a
devastating lack of action at the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity.

Canadian groups represented at the UN meeting that ends today
worked closely with other groups and Indigenous peoples' organizations
from around the world to support the African continent's proposal to
suspend any releases of GE trees. The prolonged fight over GE trees was
part of an extremely controversial meeting that also debated the
impacts of biofuel production on biodiversity.

"Canada was largely a silent accomplice because Brazil and Colombia
took the lead to stop the moratorium," said Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator
of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, present at the meetings,
"Canada also felt the pressure of Canadians who wrote and called the
Minister of the Environment."