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VANDALS HIT AND MISS TREE LAB On November 27, Mr. Jeffrey Tufenkian, who says he "does not advocate illegal acts but seeks to explain why people destroy genetically engineered crops," sent out a press release recounting an action of the "Washington Tree Improvement Association" which, he said, had "destroyed the contents of a research greenhouse at the WSU facilities in Puyallup [Washington] and felled approximately 200 deciduous trees and saplings used in GE [genetic engineering] research at UW College of Urban Horticulture facilities in Seattle. The group also freed native squirrels at the WSU facilities." The following day, the lab at Puyallup issued a clarification: "Vandals apparently mistook raspberry bushes for poplar trees when they broke into a screen house at Washington State University's Puyallup Reseach and Extension Center on the weekend. . . . Apparently they intended to destroy hybrid poplars, which shows an ignorance of the environmental and economic benefits derived from that research." The lab mentioned that the raspberries were being grown for experiments this summer in raspberry fields, where they would be used to monitor disease developments, as part of an ongoing project-and expressed optimism that they could be repotted and saved. The lab affirmed that it was indeed conducting research on hybrid poplars but through traditional cross-pollination technology "more than 50 years old"-not gene splicing. The lab provided no comment on the claim with respect to "native squirrels." Return to Public Policy Archive Forest Resources Association
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