Research & Reports
This list of selected documents provides you with more information on GE tree issues from different actors. The links in the left column lead you to further publications of interest.
Please send us more publications on GE trees that should also be presented here.
2006
| Title: | Advice on environmental impacts of transgenic forest trees for consideration by the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) |
| Author: | Benno Vogel |
| Organisation: | Greenpeace International, The Netherlands |
| Source: | Submission to the Convention on Biological Diversity, 2006 |
Abstract: There is wide spread concern about detrimental effects of genetically engineered trees on the environment. Transgenic annual crops are already known to have detrimental effects on wild-life communities and ecosystems. For a number of reasons, the risk of harmful environmental effects is considerably greater in the case of transgenic forest trees:
- forest trees have very long lifespans (up to several hundreds of years),
- forest trees are relatively undomesticated and can thrive in natural environments without human intervention,
- forest trees often produce copious amounts of seeds and pollen, which will travel long distances,
- some forest trees can reproduce vegetatively,
- most forest trees are outbreeders and interbreed with related wild species,
- forest trees are often dominant species in their ecosystem and support a large web of organisms that rely on them, either directly or indirectly, as their ultimate source of nutrients.
| Title: | Briefing Paper on Transgenic Trees |
| Author: | n.a. |
| Organisation: | Global Justice Ecology Project, EcoNexus, Friends of the Earth International, Global Forest Coalition and World Rainforest Movement |
| Source: | Recommendation to the Convention on Biological Diversity, 2006 |
Abstract: The damaging effects of conventional industrial mono-culture tree plantations is already well-documented. The addition of transgenic tree plantations can only worsen these existing problems. Add to this the utter lack of credible risk assessment of transgenic tree release, especially on a global scale, and it becomes a matter of common sense that there must not be any further forward motion in the commercial development of transgenic tree plantations. The UN CBD must impose a moratorium on the technology and launch a thorough and global examination of the risks of this technology.
| Title: | Transgenic Plum Tree Tribulations in Romania |
| Author: | Eric Meunier et al. |
| Organisation: | Inf'OGM, France |
| Source: | Bulletin Inf’OGM Issue 73, Mar 2006 |
Abstract: In spring 1996,a field trial of transgenic plum trees was established in the Bistrita region of Romania.This trial was carried out within the framework of a European research project. Yet, this trial does not resemble the majority of those carried out in Europe. Here, the country concerned is not a member of the European Union, and its legislation is not yet completely in accordance with European legislation. More officially, this trial has not been authorised according to the Romanian law on GMPs (genetically modified plants), and, above all, Romania is a genetic birthplace of plum tree varieties that international legislation must protect.
until 2003