Groups Claim Responsibility for Research-tree Destruction
11/4/99
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Title: Groups claim responsibility for research-tree destruction
Source: Associated Press
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: November 4, 1999
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- Underground environmental
activists have claimed responsibility for the recent destruction and
damage of more than 3,500 trees at research facilities.
Groups calling themselves Reclaim the Genes and Genetix Goblins sent
news releases saying they destroyed the trees and seedlings because
they oppose genetic engineering.
Reclaim the Genes said it destroyed 500 trees at Silvagen Inc.'s
research facility at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver
on Oct. 27.
Genetix Goblins, took credit for cutting down about 3,000 trees at
Western Forest Product's forestry center near Victoria on Halloween.
The two groups said their attacks were intended to halt the spread of
"Frankenforests."
Reclaim the Genes claimed it destroyed Silvagen's "bio-hazardous
genetically mutated evergreen saplings."
Damage to the two facilities has been estimated at about $250,000
each.
Western Forest Products has offered a $25,000 reward for information
leading to the conviction of those responsible.
Destruction of genetically engineered plants has become common in
Europe and Great Britain, but has only recently come to North
America.
In the past year there have been at least 13 reported incidents of
vandalism of research crops in the United States, including eight in
the past two months.
None of Silvagen's trees destroyed was genetically mutated, the chief
financial officer of B.C. Research Inc., Silvagen's parent company,
said Wednesday.
Instead, the company clones the seeds of existing trees, said Dave
Goold.
Western's chief forester said his company's seed orchard is "a gene
bank for some of the best trees in our coastal forests."
It is meant to "preserve the genetic diversity" of British Columbia's
forests, said Bill Dumont.
The identity of the underground activists is a mystery.
Both groups sent anonymous communiques to Jeffrey Tufenkian, an
environmental consultant in San Diego who keeps track of underground
environmental groups on his Web site
Those documents were then given to David Barbarash, a British
Columbia environmental activist, who distributed them to the media.
Barbarash said he did not know the identity of the group's members,
but defended their actions.
"Non-violent property destruction is a valid tactic, especially when
you're talking about the destruction of our forests," he said.
"Basically, these researchers are messing around with the fabric of
life as we know it."