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

2007-12-11 | permalink

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.

2007-11-26 | permalink

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.

2007-11-20 | permalink

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.”

2007-11-11 | permalink

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.”

2007-10-19 | permalink

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.

2007-10-19 | permalink

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.

2007-10-15 | permalink

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.

2007-10-03 | permalink

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.

2007-09-24 | permalink

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.

2007-09-13 | permalink

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.

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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.