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

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.

13.09.2007

Sweden: Research into GE trees risks irreversible damage to forest

Professor Ove Nilsson is the star of genetically engineered tree research in Sweden. Nilsson and his research team at the Umeå Plant Science Centre won the race to identify the gene that controls plants’ flowering allowing them to produce genetically engineered trees which flower in weeks, instead of years. In 2005, the journal Science declared it one of the most important discoveries of the year. [...] Nilsson isn’t really talking about increasing ”forest productivity”. He’s talking about increasing productivity from industrial tree plantations. The fast growing eucalyptus plantations that Nilsson admires have dried out streams and lowered water tables, leaving local communities without water supplies in many countries in the South. Faster growing trees in cold climates would also need more water. Faster growing tree monocultures have already replaced many native forests and other ecosystems in Europe and North America.

27.08.2007

Frankenforests: GE trees threaten ecosystem collapse

In China, over a million poplar trees have been planted since 2002 to combat deforestation. But the move has not been widely applauded by everyone. The poplars, which are genetically engineered, are China’s first foray into the world of transgenic forestry -- or ”frankenforests” -- and other countries are not far behind. As the biotech industry continues to lay the groundwork for genetically engineered crops -- poorly tested, widely debated and yet plugged as a technological wonder -- a potentially greater threat to biodiversity has begun to emerge. Pushed forward by biotech and the multibillion-dollar timber industry, genetically engineered trees are the latest invention.

01.08.2007

A South Carolina biotech firm re-engineers trees

unfamiliar climates and be processed more easily into wood or paper once they are cut down.
Super trees are the business of ArborGen, a South Carolina company that says improving the genetic makeup of purpose-grown trees - that is, trees grown for paper, wood or biofuels - will help conserve ”native forests in all their diversity and complexity for future generations.” Yes, ArborGen, like so many companies today, is painting itself green - although it has run into a buzzsaw of criticism from the likes of the Sierra Club.

27.07.2007

Plum-pox-resistant GE plum trees move forward in the U.S.

Plum trees with resistance to plum pox (PPV), a virus that can devastate stone fruit, have moved a step closer to reality, according to the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), which is leading the project. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), which has regulatory authority over genetically engineered organisms, recently ”deregulated” HoneySweet, as the PPV-resistant plum tree is named. This means APHIS had determined that the tree is not a plant pest and that it will have no significant impact on other plants.

24.07.2007

On Swedish GE tree research

In a secure, sterile greenhouse just south of the Arctic Circle trees are flowering in four weeks that would otherwise have taken 10 to 15 years to mature. The genetically modified seedlings are a huge step forward in the race to produce bigger, faster-growing trees. It’s a race which must be won to meet insatiable global demand for wood and forest byproducts without pushing commercial logging even deeper into the world’s dwindling native forests. ”The post-fossil fuel era will see human society turn back to its traditional dependency on wood,” says Professor Ove Nilsson, the scientific co-ordinator at the Umea Plant Science Centre in northern Sweden.

21.06.2007

A six-inch tall GE tree: Researchers demonstrate way to control height

This is a ”proof of concept” that tree height can be readily controlled by genetic engineering techniques. It opens the door to a wide variety of new products for the ornamental and nursery industries, experts say, if regulatory hurdles can be overcome – a big ”if.” [...] The advances for cereals have been part of the ”Green Revolution,” in which plants such as rice or wheat were created that directed less energy to height growth and more to development of stout stems and plentiful seed. In orchards, semi-dwarf fruit trees produce more fruit that is easier to harvest. The improvements in cereal yields have been credited with preventing the starvation of millions.

08.06.2007

USDA must reject permit for engineered Eucalyptus trees, campaign demands

The STOP GE Trees Campaign is demanding the USDA’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) reject a request by ArborGen to allow a field trial of genetically engineered eucalyptus to flower and produce seeds. The Campaign wants to ensure APHIS destroys the Baldwin County, Alabama field trial before it produces seeds to prevent escape of the GE eucalyptus.

15.05.2007

Effort launched to stop GE eucalyptus plantations in US Southeast

As the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) wraps up its annual convention in Boston, the STOP GE Trees Campaign and member groups from around the U.S., including Dogwood Alliance, WildLaw, Southern Forests Network, Sierra Club and Global Justice Ecology Project are uniting to stop the plans of GE tree giant ArborGen to release genetically engineered eucalyptus trees in the southeast U.S.
ArborGen, which was a co-sponsor of the BIO convention, is laying the groundwork for massive plantations of non-native eucalyptus trees genetically engineered to be cold tolerant for biofuels and paper pulp. In addition to the cold tolerance trait, these eucalyptus have been engineered for other traits which ArborGen refuses to reveal. News articles and reports indicate these traits likely include reduced lignin content and the ability to kill insects.

23.03.2007

Romania’s GMO dilemma: who to side with - corporations or the EU?

The Environment Ministry in Bucharest is due to push for public debate two new initiatives on genetically modified food - one for the introduction of GM soy testing and one for tests of GM plum trees. The Ministry recently authorized tests on GM corn. The moves come as agricultural experts are pushing hard to make Romanian citizens understand that GM crops are not harmful. But environmental militants are redirecting the debate towards studies they say may help stop the expansion of non-conventional crops, while modified corn is the only GM plant allowed in the EU agriculture.

17.01.2007

Danger in the Woods - Despite environmental concerns the Canadian government still goes ahead with GE trees

Greenpeace today submitted its report on genetically engineered (GE) trees to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). Despite numerous scientific warnings about the risks of GE trees to the environment, the Canadian government continues to authorize GE tree field trials. The CFIA is currently consulting on the latest round of GE trees field trials that will still allow such trials to take place in open air. Pollen from spruce can travel up to 3000km and can survive up to 60km. Field trials of GE trees can result in the contamination of other trees.

10.01.2007

Rapid evolutionary change may help annual plants cope with global warming better than long-living species

Countering Charles Darwin’s view that evolution occurs gradually, UC Irvine scientists have discovered that plants with short life cycles can evolutionally adapt in just a few years to climate change. This finding suggests that quick-growing plants such as weeds may cope better with global warming than slower-growing plants such as Redwood trees – a phenomenon that could lead to future changes in the Earth’s plant life. «Some species evolve fast enough to keep up with environmental change,” said Arthur Weis, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. «Global warming may increase the pace of this change so that certain species may have difficulty keeping up. Plants with longer life cycles will have fewer generations over which to evolve.”

10.01.2007

Grow Green

It’s often said that the largest of trees comes from the smallest of seeds. When Ibrahim Abouleish opened the Sekem Farm on a plot of empty desert, his critics must have thought he was crazy. But now, with a network of crops covering more than 70,000 acres of organic farmland, he is all smiles. [...] Genetically modified foods are among organic farms’ top enemies. To create a GMO, scientists manipulate genes in a plant’s or animal’s DNA to produce desirable characteristics, for example, a certain pest resistance or a larger fruit. Although some GE proponents say it can reduce the use of chemicals, the evidence is so far inconclusive. On the other hand, claims that GMOs are more susceptible to diseases and infestation are equally unproven. The use of GMOs does, however, risk uniformity across species because it reproduces the same strain of plant over and over again.

08.01.2007

ArborGen, Scion sign deal to benefit global forestry, develop new bio-based products

ArborGen LLC and Crown Research Institute Scion of New Zealand have signed a multi-million dollar partnership deal in a move that will build significant biomaterials expertise and benefit the productivity of plantation forestry worldwide. ArborGen based in Summerville, S.C., and Scion, based in Rotorua, New Zealand, have signed a research and development agreement to focus on the areas of gene discovery and molecular breeding for forest trees.

11.12.2006

O Frankentree - GE trees in Canada

When Christmas snows thaw this spring, Armand Seguin will cut down a stand of about 300 trees outside Quebec City. Although he spent years growing these spruce and poplars, he will take care to completely burn their trunks, branches, leaves and roots. And environmental groups such as Greenpeace can hardly wait for the chainsaws to rev up. That's because these are Canada's first and only genetically modified trees to be grown outdoors. While some scientists believe that they represent the future of our forests -- and a forest-product industry that accounted for nearly 60 per cent of our $55.1-billion trade balance in 2005 -- others fear the fallout from experimenting with "frankenpines."

16.11.2006

Organizations around the world demand ban of genetically engineered trees from Kyoto Protocol

WASHINGTON - November 15 - World Rainforest Movement and Global Justice Ecology Project have presented a demand to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Nairobi, Kenya to ban the use of genetically engineered trees under the Kyoto Protocol. GE trees have been proposed for use in plantations developed as climate sinks or for biofuels.

06.11.2006

Taiwan looks to capitalize on its flora, fauna and build biotech industry

Algae and fish scales are turned into skin-care products. Herbs are made into health foods. Evergreen trees are cultivated to make anticancer drugs. Though Taiwan has had some success in turning the island's great variety of flora and fauna into commercial products, experts say it has a long way to go before it emerges as a biotechnology powerhouse. With limited government support for research and a poor record of cashing in on laboratory breakthroughs, it is still struggling to create a name for itself in an increasingly competitive field, they say.

22.06.2005

Ban demanded on release of genetically engineered trees

Participants at BioDemocracy 2005, the alternative conference to the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s yearly gathering, are demanding a ban on the release of genetically engineered trees into the environment.
Genetically engineered trees are already being researched in the field, and industry is moving rapidly toward commercialization without regard for the predictable and inevitable impacts they will have on ecosystems and communities.

20.06.2005

Advances and future perspectives in fruit tree transformation

Conventional breeding of temperate fruit trees is constrained by their extensive reproductive cycle with long juvenile periods, complex reproductive biology, and high degree of heterozygosity. As the commercial production of transgenic annual crops becomes a reality in many parts of the world, the question remains whether genetically engineering fruit trees will find commercial application.

07.06.2005

Groups Call for UN CBD Moratorium on GE Trees

Today at a press conference on genetically engineered trees held during the Second meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COP-MOP 2), participants called for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to enact a moratorium on the release of genetically engineered trees into the environment, including the removal of any outdoor test plots currently in existence.

28.05.2005

Genetic modification seen as future of Thai rubber industry

Genetically modified rubber trees could be the future of the Thai rubber industry, producing high quantities of latex, according to one of Thailand’s principle agricultural firms. As one of the world’s main rubber-producing nations, Thailand is keen to boost rubber production and ensure equitable prices for its farmers. And although GM products have been opposed for human consumption, the Charoen Pokphand group, one of the country’s largest business empires, is confident that the government will give the go-ahead for the cultivation of GM rubber in the future.

17.04.2005

Superfast GM trees may help tropical reforestation and reverse the ecological damage!

»Each year the natural forest area cleared worldwide equals the size of Portugal - five times the size of Israel,« says Dr. Stanley Hirsch, CEO of CBD Technologies, a bio-tech startup in Rehovot. »In Southeast Asia - in countries like Indonesia - the trees are not only cut down, but millions of acres of them are burned to make way for agriculture. The ecological damage is immense.« CBD has found a solution: The company has developed a unique technology that accelerates tree growth and could halt the destruction of the rain forests. The technology is based on a gene called »cellulose binding domain,« which was discovered by Prof. Oded Shoseyov of the agriculture faculty at Hebrew University in Rehovot and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

12.04.2005

More GE trees »no threat« to environment in China

Increased planting of genetically engineered (GE) trees will pose no threat to the environment, Chinese scientists have claimed. Speaking yesterday, experts and officials agreed that the use of modified poplar trees is bound to increase as the country sees surging demands for timber. They insisted the transgenic poplars have already undergone strict safety analysis before being commercialized. »There are many natural and artificial »restraints« in China to prevent the GE trees from imperiling bio-safety,« Lu Mengzhu, a chief scientist with the Chinese Academy of Forestry, said yesterday.

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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.