- Scattered across at least seven provinces in China are
more than 1 million common poplar trees with an uncommon bite. They can
kill the insects that nibble their leaves. Their unusual defensive system
is a genetically engineered bomb: Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt, a naturally
occurring toxin inserted into the tree's DNA. Other such transgenic species,
such as the larch and walnut, are in the works, Chinese researchers report.
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- Such moves are shaking up the twin worlds of forestry
and environmentalism. Transgenic trees are reaching the threshold of commercialization
- a point bioengineered crops reached in the 1980s, observers say. This
time, though, it's not the United States leading the charge, it's China.
-
- Though little reported in the West, China's swan dive
into large-scale transgenic forestry is essentially the first commercial-scale
deployment of genetically engineered (GE) trees in the world, experts say.
That could one day mean a potent new competitor to the lumber and paper
industries. It also may mean that cutting-edge GE tree research in the
US will fall behind, hobbled by regulation and public protest. It also
puts decisions about a controversial - and, some say, potentially dangerous
- technology into the hands of an authoritarian government, with less oversight
and fewer technical controls than in the West.
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- "What the Chinese have done, planting [genetically
engineered] trees across hundreds, maybe thousands, of acres, hasn't been
done anywhere else in the world," says Yousry El-Kassaby, a forest
geneticist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. "It
marks a shift in the center of gravity away from the US, where there's
a lot of genetic engineering tree research, but much of it is restricted
to the labs or very regulated small field trials."
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- The case for GE trees seems straightforward. Faster-growing
species can produce more lumber and paper in shorter time, which makes
them a cheaper raw material. Supertree plantations could also mean less
disturbance of natural forests - an environmental plus.
-
- Scientists can "develop faster-growing trees, trees
that produce more biomass that can be converted to fuels, and trees that
can sequester more carbon from the atmosphere or be used to clean up waste
sites," said Spencer Abraham, then US secretary of Energy, last fall.
-
- Proponents also tout the technology as something that
can be used to return vanishing species such as the American chestnut to
the American landscape, by modifying its genetic makeup to defeat a devastating
blight.
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- A problem with pollen
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- But there's a big catch, experts warn. Trees are perennial
plants that produce large quantities of pollen released far higher into
the air than ordinary crops. This "gene drift" in crops has caused
problems as large seed companies have sued US and Canadian farmers for
illegally using GE seeds. The farmers claimed their crops were contaminated
by drifting pollen, but to no avail. A study last year by the Union of
Concerned Scientists found that seeds of traditional varieties of corn,
soybeans, and canola "are pervasively contaminated" with low
levels of DNA from genetically engineered varieties of those crops.
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- If DNA can spread so broadly from GE crops a few feet
high, there's no telling what will happen with pollen from trees 50 to
100 feet high or more, experts say. For example: Pollen from GE conifer
trees can blow more than a thousand miles, new research at Duke University
shows.
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- The potential for genetic contamination of forests -
and potential rewards from using GE trees - are enormous, experts say.
"For the first time, we have the ability to put a bacteria or even
a fish gene into a tree," says Robert Jackson, professor of biology
and director of Duke University's Center on Global Change. "Some make
that a moral issue. Is it morally right? Another question is: Is it smart
- or, maybe, is it dangerous?"
-
- Indeed, the idea of releasing GE trees into the wild
sends shudders through Alyx Perry of the Southern Forests Network, a coalition
of loggers, landowners, and environmentalists. "Our conclusion is
that the genetically engineered trees will inevitably contaminate nongenetically
engineered stands of trees."
-
- That, in turn, could lead to millions of acres of infertile
private timber, possibly lacking enough lignin (a wood-strengthening substance)
needed to be saw timber, Ms. Perry says. Combined with internal pesticide
production in pine and poplar trees in the wild, it could lead to forests
unable to reproduce, produce food for animals, or create marketable timber.
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- In the US, at least 69 field-test permits are in effect
for three GE tree species - pine, poplar, and walnut. Most of those occupy
two acres or less, says the US Department of Agriculture. Under USDA rules,
such trees are closely monitored and not permitted to reach the flowering
and pollination stage. So far, just one GE variety, a Hawaiian papaya,
has been approved to be grown commercially. But commercialization is moving
forward. In January 2004, the USDA announced its "intention to update
and strengthen" biotechnology regulations for GE organisms, which
some say is a key shift. And field research trials for GE trees in the
US, including those conducted by ArborGen, a forestry-research firm in
Summerville, S.C., have surged since 1997. ArborGen has been approved to
conduct dozens of field trials with pine and poplar species genetically
engineered for altered fertility, lignin levels, and other features, USDA
database records show.
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- "We certainly see that genetic engineering in a
plantation setting ... could play a big part in meeting world demand,"
says Les Pearson, ArborGen's director of regulatory affairs. ArborGen's
first tree is at least seven years away from commercialization, he adds.
Others see GE trees coming sooner.
-
- "Government and industry are basically looking at
what they can do to finalize regulations to streamline commercial release,"
says Neil Carmen of the Sierra Club. "We're talking about potentially
millions of acres of genetically engineered trees."
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- Insight from papaya
-
- At least two other transgenic tree species, a plum and
another papaya, are undergoing USDA review. More than 30 species of GE
trees - including 20 species valuable for timber or paper and pulp - are
being developed, Dr. Carmen says. Ironically, Hawaiian farmers say the
approved GE papaya has already contaminated groves, he adds.
-
- "The regulation of this whole thing is lagging the
technology," says Roger Sedjo, director of the forest economics and
policy program at Resources for the Future, a Washington policy think tank.
"A lot of countries are pursuing research in the area and some of
it is coming to fruition. What we don't have is a global standard."
-
- In Brazil, for example, researchers have embarked on
large-scale research to develop a GE eucalyptus tree. The idea is to make
the slow-growing Australian native mature faster and resistant to disease.
-
- "We're certainly not ready to understand all of
the risks yet," says Duke's Dr. Jackson. "There is immense commercial
pressure to move ahead with this. And frankly, it's pretty easy to outline
the economic benefits, but much more difficult to outline the long-term
costs and what they will be - and how long they'll last if things go wrong."
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- Copyright © 2005 The Christian Science Monitor.
All rights reserved.
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- http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0310/p14s02-sten.html
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