Genetically Engineered Trees

Since 1999 GENET collects and distributes information on various topics in the field of genetic engineering in agriculture, food production and health. With this "Special Topic: GE Trees" GENET aims at providing an overview about the worldwide debate on genetically engineered trees, mainly based on our archives. We provide you with a selection of those GENET-news articles in our databank that show the word "trees" in the title of the text. You will find a selection of publications in the section "Research & Reports". To get more information about the different stakeholders in the debate, please follow the internet links to selected actors in the civil society and industry sectors. Finally, the page "GE Trees and the CBD" introduces you into the international debate about a moratorium on GE trees that is ongoing at the Convention for Biological Biodiversity (to come soon).

GENET-news articles

11.09.2008

Campaigners attack plans to plant GM trees in UK

FRIENDS of the Earth have hit out at controversial plans by scientists at Southampton University to grow genetically modified trees on Forestry Commission land. It is the first time scientists have tried to grow GM trees in Britain since 1999 when activists destroyed 115 modified trees in Berkshire. Environmental campaigners say the dangers of contamination – especially as trees live so long – the complex mechanics of tree reproduction and the risk to biodiversity are all so great the idea should be rejected.

25.08.2008

Kootenay Food Strategy Society launches local GE-free campaign in Canada

Organized by a sub-group of the Kootenay Food Strategy Society, the G.E. Free Kootenays campaign used the event to encourage area residents to become involved and supportive of the creation of a region that remains free of genetically-engineered plants and trees. [...] ”Our next step is to present our strategy to the public and encourage community-specific groups to get involved in bringing this issue to their municipal and regional councils and boards,” says spokesperson Kim Charlesworth.

20.08.2008

Bid to plant genetically-modified trees in UK

Scientists have applied to plant genetically modified trees in Britain despite fears that they will damage native wildlife, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose. Supporters of GM trees say the technology can also be used to help protect Britain’s forests from disease They have asked the Forestry Commission for permission to put GM trees on its land for an international study into biofuels. But environmental campaigners have pledged to fight the scheme.

20.08.2008

Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (Belgium) appeals denial for GE tree field trial

The Flanders Institute for Biotechnology, VIB, submitted a request to the Council of State on July 23, 2008, to suspend and quash the decision of Ministers Magnette and Onkelinx denying its approval for a field test of genetically modified poplar trees. Flemish Minister of Economics, Entrepreneurship, Science, Innovation and Foreign Trade, Patricia Ceysens, has given VIB permission to take the necessary action to prevent the field test from being lost.

22.07.2008

GM crops and biofuels

Are European biofuels producers being disadvantaged because some countries won’t allow the production or importation of genetically modified crops? In many ways, genetically modified (GM) crops and biofuels are made for each other. The enhanced yields available from the current generation of GM crops such as corn and soybeans can help farmers meet the growing feedstock demand for biofuels while still producing sufficient quantities of food and animal feed. In the future, GM crops with even higher yields and entirely novel GM varieties of grasses and trees should make biofuels production even more efficient and inexpensive.

02.06.2008

UN Convention on Biological Diversity failed to ban GE trees

Campaigners have said they will fight a UN decision that could see plantations of genetically modified trees grown in the wild. The 150 countries that are members of the Convention on Biological Diversity - the leading international agreement for ecological governance - refused to ban the controversial trees during their conference in Bonn, Germany. The decision means that trees whose genetic traits have been manipulated to make them more suitable for the paper making and biofuel industries, can be grown in field trials with a view to being grown on a commercial scale. Under the decision, members are allowed to ban the controversial trees in their own countries but with no international agreement, they would not be protected by contaminated pollen blown across national borders from neighboring countries.

30.05.2008

Belgium government refuses approval for GE poplar field trials

On Monday, the Environment and Health Ministers (Magnette and Onkelinx) have refused the authorization for a field trial on GE poplar trees in Gent, asked by the VIB (Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie). The trees would have been modified to produce less lignin and facilitate the production of agrofuels. VIB can still appeal.

28.05.2008

European Commission flies in the face of European Parliament on GE trees

In the Resolution of 24th April on preparations for the meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Bonn, Germany, the European Parliament: ”Urges the Commission and Member States to: Ensure that COP9 adopts a final decision to ... agree a moratorium on the environmental release, including field trials, and commercial used of genetically modified trees.” However, the European Commission is refusing to follow this line. It is therefore defying not only the European Parliament, the Precautionary Principle, many EU member states and countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Island States.

09.05.2008

GMO poplar trees set to be marketed in Belgium

Greenpeace is deeply concerned about the favourable recommendation that has just been issued by the Biosafety Council in the dossier on genetically-modified poplar trees. Greenpeace does not question that field testing carries only a limited risk with the proviso that all precautionary measures be taken. Nevertheless, the risks for the environment and for biodiversity in the event that the trees are marketed would be considerable. The environmental organisation thus admonishes the Ministers in charge of the dossier, first and foremost Minister of Environment Magnette, to bear these long-term negative consequences in mind. Greenpeace asks the Ministers to apply the precautionary principle and not to undertake a course that may lead to the marketing of genetically-modified trees.

05.05.2008

GM pines cleared of risk to the environment in New Zealand

A trial cultivation of genetically modified pine trees in the open has shown no demonstrable risk to the environment, says research agency Scion. The Crown Research Institute says its field trial in Rotorua had not led to any modified gene transfer to other organisms or any discernible impacts on insects which live or feed on the trees, or bug life in the soil. Dr Tom Richardson, Scion chief executive, told the Herald yesterday these were the key areas under investigation and the result was that there were no detrimental effects from exposure to the genetically modified pines.

24.03.2008

The threat of GM trees

While genetically manipulated crops carry on being the subject of vigorous polemics and resistance around the world as more and more data is gathered on contamination, yield failures, increased use of agro-poisons and impacts on health and the environment, new threats are looming with growing pressure from companies to introduce GM trees. The principal motive of the industries concerned is to produce raw material more cheaply for paper and celluose for ethanol at the cost of increasing the harsh effects of forestry monoculture on the environment, on forests, on indigenous and afro-descendant communities and on rural families.

26.02.2008

International protest demanding a ban on GM trees

On 19 February 2008, a large number of civil society organizations sent an open letter to the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, currently meeting in Rome, expressing their ”deep concern” about genetic engineering of trees. In only one week, the letter was signed by 138 organizations in countries where research on the genetic engineering of trees is being carried out, (or has in recent years).

21.01.2008

Phytoremediation of volatile pollutants through genetic engineering

A direct method for enhancing the effectiveness of phytoremediation is to overexpress in transgenic plants the genes involved in metabolism, uptake, or transport of specific pollutants. This can be readily achieved for many plant species by using Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated plant transformation. Since phytoremediation is generally more effective when using large, fast-growing plants, the focus has been on poplar trees. Depending on the hybrid and particular clone, reasonable transformation frequencies can be achieved in poplar.

17.01.2008

GE protesters chop down trees at research institute in New Zealand

Nineteen trees, some genetically modified, have been cut down in an apparent protest against Crown forestry research institute Scion. Those responsible for the attack dug under the Rotorua institute’s perimeter fence and left behind a spade with a sticker saying ”GE Free New Zealand”. It is unknown exactly when the attack occurred but the trees were discovered slashed on Monday and police were called.

28.12.2007

What happens when genetic engineering comes to the forest?

Some proponents hope that the chestnut will be the first transgenic forest tree to confront federal regulators. (Forest trees, unlike the bioengineered plum and papaya, pose special issues because they have relatives in the wild.) They see it as a good test case because the chestnut is a tree that the public genuinely desires, and the environmental risks are lower since few chestnuts still exist in the forests. As Robert Kellison, former head of the Institute of Forest Biotechnology, put it in a 2006 interview: ”We need to get something through the system so we can set an example.” That’s exactly what many experts and environmental activists worry about.

19.12.2007

Oregon State University (USA) starts non-GE tree breeding programme

A new move toward ”marker based breeding” with economically important forest tree species is expected to improve and speed up the identification of trees with desirable traits – to achieve faster growth, drought resistance, wood quality or other useful characteristics. [...] These programs, researchers say, do not involve genetic engineering, which is the intentional change of genetic structure or introduction of novel genes into plants, and an approach that has also met significant public resistance and regulatory hurdles.

11.12.2007

Argentina’s forest law creates export tax on GE soy to fight deforestation

The forests of Argentina are being cleared at a rate of 40 football fields every hour. To stop the destruction we took to the trees - and to the streets. While our activists protested in the forest, we joined forces with other environmental groups, got 1.5 million signatures of support and pushed through Argentina’s first federal forest protection law. [...] To pay for implementation, the law allocates funds from the national budget, plus income from a new export tax on genetically engineered soy. Forest clearing to plant genetically engineered soy beans destroys 300,000 hectares of native forest per year.

26.11.2007

Through genetics, tapping a tree’s potential as a source of energy

Aiming to turn trees into new energy sources, scientists are using a controversial genetic engineering process to change the composition of the wood. A major goal is to reduce the amount of lignin, a chemical compound that interferes with efforts to turn the tree’s cellulose into biofuels like ethanol. [...] ”Nature would have selected for lower-lignin trees if they could survive,” said Shawn Mansfield, associate professor of wood science at the University of British Columbia. People working in the field also acknowledge that they will face resistance from others who see trees as majestic symbols of pristine nature that should not be genetically altered like corn and soybeans.

20.11.2007

Modified forests could severely impact natural land

When the Tree Biosafety and Genomics Research Cooperative at Oregon State University was still known as The Tree Genetic Engineering Research Cooperative, they publicized their work with ”Roundup® resistant” trees. [...] The old TGERC Web site still has information posted about their hundreds of lines of transgenic trees that ”have demonstrated high levels of tolerance and no detectable growth loss after multiple Roundup® applications…[and others]…that contain a synthetic gene from the cry3a strain of Bacillus thuringiensis…showed strong resistance to the cottonwood leaf beetle…and enhanced growth rate.”

11.11.2007

Dispelling myths key, Patrick Moore says

By dispelling some myths about the effects of pesticides and genetically modified (GM) foods, Canadians will be able to achieve sustainable agriculture, according to Patrick Moore of Greenspirit Strategies. Moore was one of five speakers at Farm Credit Canada’s AgriSuccess Forum, held in Regina on Tuesday. The ex-activist spoke of the irrational fears surrounding the effects of GM foods on human health, the alleged link between pesticide residue and cancer, and renewable energy source myths. [...] ”We do know that glaciers are retreating around the world,” Moore said. ”Why are glaciers perceived as something important? They are just big globs of frozen water. Nothing grows on them, they are basically dead zones. When the glaciers retreat, trees come in ... and a healthy ecosystem re-emerges. Ice and frost are the enemies of life.”

19.10.2007

Cloned pine trees failing in New Zealand

New Zealand’s world status as the leader in pine tree cloning could be threatened if scientists can’t solve a problem with some of the ’super trees’ grown in Whakatane. Horizon2, a forestry biotechnology company in the Bay of Plenty, has gone global in its efforts to find out why some of the mother plants from one of its elite pine tree breeding programmes are mysteriously failing. An expert on somatic embryogenesis - the process used to clone the trees - flew in from Ireland to assist the company. Dr David Thompson, will try to work out why some of the mother plants are turning yellow and then becoming so weak that they snap off at ground level.

19.10.2007

Genetically modified plants vacuum up toxins

Scientists have figured out a way to trick plants into doing the dirty work of environmental cleanup, U.S. and British researchers reported on Monday. Researchers at the University of Washington have genetically altered poplar trees to pull toxins out of contaminated ground water, offering a cost-effective way of cleaning up environmental pollutants. A group of British researchers, meanwhile, has developed genetically altered plants that can clean residues of military explosives from the environment.

15.10.2007

Forest Stewardship Council most effective certification option

New research conducted by Montreal-based management consultants ÉEM Inc. and released today by environmental publishing advocates Markets Initiative shows Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) to be the most effective certification system for achieving sustainable forest management in Canada. Unlike the other certification systems, namely CSA, SFI and PEFC, FSC is the only one that prohibits the use of genetically modified trees, prevents the conversion of natural forest to plantations and requires a precautionary approach to the management of areas with high conservation value.

03.10.2007

Genetic modification seen key for second-generation biofuels

Genetic modification has a major role to play in developing second generation biofuels, scientist Simon McQueen-Mason said on Monday. ”Definitely that technology has a big contribution to make to the area I would say,” McQueen-Mason of the U.K.-based Centre for Novel Agricultural Products told a conference organized by EastEuro Link.
Second generation biofuels involve the breaking down of non-edible crops such as fast growing grasses or trees by enzymes to eventually create liquid motor fuel. They are not yet commercially viable but there is heavy investment in research into the area which may see as the long-term solution to concerns that biofuels made from food crops could drive up food prices and lead to shortages.

24.09.2007

Gene-modified eucalyptus ingests more CO2

Eucalyptus trees genetically modified by a team of Taiwanese and U.S. biologists have proven capable of ingesting up to three times more carbon dioxide than normal strains, indicating a new path to reducing greenhouse gases and global warming, team members said yesterday. Under the auspices of National Science Council, staff members at the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute (TFRI) under the cabinet-level Council of Agriculture and North Carolina State University in the United States carried out the gene modification project that not only creates eucalyptus with a higher than normal CO2 absorptive capacity, but also causes them to produce less lignin and more cellulose.

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GE Trees: NGOs and Social Movements

 people's Forest Forum

The Global Ban on GM Trees Campaign was released by three Finnish non-governemental organisations in January 2004. The open petition protested decicion made in UN Climate change meeting in Milano to include transgenic trees in their climate toolbox. This desicion violated the biodiversity and biosafety agreements and prozesses.

 Stop GE Trees Campaign

The Stop GE Trees Campaign is a national and international alliance of organizations that have united toward the goal of prohibiting the ecologically and socially devastating release of genetically engineered trees into the environment. Global Justice Ecology Project coordinates, administrates and fundraises for the campaign. World Rainforest Movement, based in Uruguay, is the Southern Hub for the Campaign and has materials in Spanish and Portuguese.

 Genetically Modified Trees

Information by the World Rainforest Movement

GE Trees: Biotechnology Industry and Science

 Institute for Forest Biotechnology

The Institute promotes the responsible use of biotechnology in forest trees.  We advance the societal, environmental, and economic benefits biotechnology can bring to forests around the world.  The Institute of Forest Biotechnology (IFB) is the only non-profit organization to address the sustainability of forest biotechnology on a global scale.

 ArgorGen

Trees are the world’s most plentiful and versatile source of renewable materials and an important resource for bioenergy. ArborGen is dedicated to improving the sustainability and productivity of purpose grown working forests, providing more wood on less land while preserving native habitats in all their diversity and complexity for future generations.

 Tree Biosafety and Genomics Research Cooperative

The goal of the Tree Biosafety and Genomics Research Cooperative (TBGRC) is to conduct research, technology transfer, and education to facilitate beneficial uses of genetically engineered trees in plantations. The TBGRC seeks to test and develop select innovations, based on progress in molecular biology and agricultural biotechnology, that will ultimately have commercial value to wood-growing and horticultural industries. Research is presently focused on poplars as scientific models for genetic engineering and functional genomic studies.