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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, based on our archives.

 

Databank Query 1: "trees" as key word in the GENET-news 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.

GENET-news articles

2004-08-09 |

Turning GE trees into toxic avengers

Dr. Richard Meagher, a professor of genetics at the University of Georgia, genetically engineered the trees to extract mercury from the soil, store it without being harmed, convert it to a less toxic form of mercury and release it into the air. It was one of two dozen proposals Dr. Meagher has submitted to various agencies over two decades for engineering trees to soak up chemicals from contaminated soil. For years, no one would pay him to try. »I got called a charlatan,« he said. »People didn’t believe a plant could do this.« He will begin to assess the experiment’s success this fall. But his is not the only such experiment with trees.

2004-05-20 |

UN Forest Forum urged to ban GE trees

Global Justice Ecology Project and the Stop GE Trees Campaign, both based in the U.S., are working with organizations including The Corner House of the UK, The Union of Ecoforestry from Finland, and World Rainforest Movement of Uruguay, to pressure the United Nations to oppose the use of genetically engineered trees in carbon offset forestry plantations developed under the Kyoto Protocol, and to ban their commercial development. On 11 May petitions signed by renowned scientists such as Dr. David Suzuki, more than 160 organizations including The Sierra Club, and Friends of the Earth International as well as over 1,500 individuals will be presented to the U.N. in Geneva backing these demands.

2004-05-13 |

Call for »second-generation« GM crops

THERE is a desperate need for the creation of »second-generation« bio-technology products to demonstrate real consumer advantages, says [Sean Rickard of Cranfield University ...] He cited the case of gene transfer in elm trees which prevented damage from Dutch Elm disease. »If we can produce a loaf of bread from GM wheat that helps prevent bone deterioration in later life, consumers will then be able to see the advantages.

2003-12-10 |

Kyoto Protocol allows GE trees as carbon sinks

Parties reached agreement yesterday on the use of sinks in the CDM after two years of negotiations. This is an encouraging step forward for the Kyoto Protocol and demonstrates the success of the multilateral process.
However, the sinks agreement clearly fails in three key areas:
- No exclusion of monoculture plantations.
- No exclusion of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
- The links between the sinks rules and other multilateral environmental agreements such as Convention on Biological Diversity are not strong enough.

2003-12-10 |

Green light for GM trees in Kyoto Protocol

UN diplomats have reached an agreement in principle on Tuesday to include genetically-modified trees in forests planted for the specific purpose of soaking up greenhouse gases. The agreement made at an Environmental summit in Milan will allow scientists to develop fast-growing trees with a maximized capability of storing carbon dioxide, one of the gases thought likely to be responsible for the heating of the earth’s atmosphere. Under the terms of the UN Kyoto Protocol on global warming, rich countries will be able to plant forests in the developing world and offset the amount of gas absorbed against their own greenhouse emissions.

2003-10-29 |

Canadian government spends $20M for genetically modified trees

The federal government is spending upward of $20-million a year to create genetically modified trees and says commercial plantations could be just a decade away.
Critics say the research could lead to a nightmare vision of sterile forests, while the government’s own documents raise safety concerns about the experiments. The goal of field trials under way in Ste-Foy, Que., is to study »transgenic« trees so the government can be fully informed if a timber company wants to plant them in the future, says the program’s chief researcher. The industry is interested in genetically modifying trees to make them impervious to spruce budworm, produce better quality wood or for other commercial benefits.

2003-09-12 |

University of Georgia (USA) researchers involved in first trial using transgenic trees to help clean up toxic waste site

Can genetically engineered cottonwood trees clean up a site contaminated with toxic mercury? A team of researchers from the University of Georgia - in the first such field test ever done with trees - is about to find out.
The results could make clearer the future of phytoremediation - a technique of using trees, grasses and other plants to remove hazardous materials from the soil. [...] We hope to see a significant difference in the levels of mercury in the soil within 18 months, perhaps as much as a twofold reduction,« said Richard Meagher, professor of genetics at UGA.

2003-09-12 |

Can GE trees help cleaning the soil?

It’s a kind of Superfund superplant, a leafy organism designed specifically to devour the hazardous waste that industrial machinations and human carelessness have left in the ground. The genetically modified mutant plants suck heavy metals, such as lead and arsenic, out of the soil into their roots, stems and leaves, cleansing the contaminated soil. It’s an intoxicating vision: Imagine fields of these valiant plants fighting part of the $700 billion battle that the United States faces in mopping up polluted Superfund sites.

2003-08-05 |

Institute's GM trees cross environmental lobby's grain

The Forest Research Institute has denied environmentalists’ claims that field trials of genetically-modified spruce and pine will wreck export markets for New Zealand timber. The institute received approval from the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) for field tests of genetically modified spruce and radiata pine early in 2001. The genetically modified saplings were reared in glasshouses. The trials are now at the planting-out stage.

2003-08-05 |

Biotech trees get wooden response from Sierra Club

Scientists are planting genetically engineered trees in dozens of research projects across the country, ignoring the pleas of environmentalists who fear dangerous, unintended consequences. When we’re talking about changing the very makeup of wild forests, we definitely need to apply caution,«said Kathleen Casey, with the Northwest office of the Sierra Club. Trees send their pollen huge distances, and the idea that this won’t contaminate the gene pool is ridiculous,«said Phil Bereano, a University of Washington professor of engineering.

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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

  • WRM publications on GM Trees
  • Articles published in WRM bulletin
  • WRM special bulletin on GM Trees
  • Video "The Silent Forest"
  • Other relevant information
  • Links

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.