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First posted:
1 August 2008
Updated: 30 October 2008 (including information provided by the Global
Justice Ecology Project)
Tree species
being manipulated:
- Poplar (Populus
sp.)
- Aspen (Populus tremuloides)
- Cottonwood (Populus sp.)
- Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus sp.)
- Pine (Pinus sp.)
- Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua)
- American Chestnut (Castanea dentata)
- American Elm (Ulmus americana)
- English Walnut (Juglans regia)
- White Spruce (Picea glauca)
Aim of genetic manipulation
- altered lignin
for easier conversion of cellulose to ethanol
- self-digesting tree (engineering to include an enzyme that will
enable the tree to begin to digest itself prior to harvest in order
to more easily convert it to ethanol or other cellulose-based agrofuels)
- reduced lignin
- faster growth
- shorter and fatter trees
- insect resistance (Bt)
- disease resistance (fungi and viruses) stress resistance (drought
tolerance, salt tolerance, cold tolerance, etc)
- reduced flowering
- sterility
- herbicide resistance
- higher storage of carbon
- modified wood quality (pine for sawtimber)
- phytoremediation (removing toxics from soils)
(The trees closest
to commercial development are GE cold tolerant, fast growing low lignin
eucalyptus for cellulosic ethanol production and fast growing insect
resistant low lignin poplar for paper or ethanol).
Those carrying
out the research:
- Tree Biosafety
and Genomics Research Cooperative (TBGRC)(formerly TGERC) at Oregon
State University (they changed their name because they didn’t
like being called “Tree Jerk” (Tree GERC)
- ArborGen (a partnership between the timber corporations International
Paper and Mead Westvaco, and the New Zealand-based Rubicon and Genesis
Research and Development)
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
- North Carolina State University
- Purdue University
- Iowa State University
- Applied Phytogenics, Inc.
- State University of New York, Syracuse
- Union Camp (paper corporation)
- USDA
- University of California, Davis
- University of Washington
- University of Wisconsin
Those who
provide support to research:
- The Department
of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research
- TGERC received funding from several pulp and paper companies, including
Aracruz, Weyerhaeuser, International Paper, MacMillan Blodel and Potlatch
Corporation. Other funders include the National Science Foundation
and Oregon State University.
- The Society of American Foresters
- Institute for Forest Biotechnology (includes the following partners:
US Forest Service, MeadWestvaco, Weyerhaeuser, International Paper,
North Carolina Biotechnology Center, ArborGen, North Carolina State
University, Clemson University, Oregon State University, Michigan
Tech, Penn State, University of Washington, SUNY Syracuse, Virginia
Tech, Universidade Federale de Vicosa [Brazil], University of Georgia).
Regulatory
framework for research and field trials:
- The United States
Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
(APHIS). APHIS, as authorized by the Plant Protection Act of 2000,
plays the major role in overseeing field tests and approval of GE
plants. In 2002, APHIS created the Biotechnology Regulatory Services
unit within the Agency; it now manages all activities with respect
to GE organisms (www.aphis.usda.gov/brs/).
- APHIS has historically been very amenable to approving commercial
release of GE plants. They have already approved commercial release
of a GE virus-resistant plum tree (Honeysweet plum), and recently
gave approval to a field trial of GE poplars with 95 transgenic constructs
to be carried out by TBGRC in Oregon.
The website to view
all the GE tree and GE plant field releases in the US is http://www.nbiap.vt.edu/cfdocs/fieldtests1.cfm
Field
trials:
- Over 350 outdoor
test plots of GE trees mainly in the U.S. South, Upper Midwest and
Pacific Northwest. South Carolina leads the way, with nearly 100 outdoor
test plots.
Collaboration
with New Zealand:
- Eucalyptus genetically
modified in New Zealand to withstand American caterpillars and tolerate
colder temperatures have been growing on a secret one-acre plot in
Baldwin County for two years. The trees belong to the company ArborGen.
Collaboration
with Brazil:
- ArborGen is also
active in Brazil with outdoor field releases of faster-growing, low-lignin
eucalyptus. Their office is in Campinas, near Sao Paulo.
Organizations
opposing GE trees:
- Dogwood Alliance
- WildLaw
- Southern Forests Network
- Sierra Club
- Global Justice Ecology Project
- Union of Concerned Scientists
Actions by
unidentified actors:
- In March, 2001
Oregon State University (OSU) students and alumni targeted three GE
test sites of Poplar and Cottonwood trees. They ringbarked or cut
down 90% of the trees at OSU's site at the Peavey Arboretum. At OSU's
tract near Half Moon Bend of the Willamette River they eliminated
60% of the trees. Every tree was cut down in one test plot at OSU's
Agricultural Experiment Station in Klamath Falls. In all, over 1200
GE research trees were destroyed.
Sources
