THIRD WORLD NETWORK BIOSAFETY INFORMATION SERVICE
Dear Friends and Colleagues
Concerns Raised as U.S. Considers Approving Genetically Engineered Forests
The Center for Food Safety (CFS) has released a new report entitled ‘Genetically Engineered Trees: The New Frontier of Biotechnology’. This comes in the midst of the U.S. Department of Agriculture considering whether to allow the unrestricted planting, throughout the southeast United States, of the first GE forest tree; eucalyptus engineered by the company ArborGen to grow in colder climates. A variety of other GE trees is in the pipeline.
The report warns that while industry promotes GE trees as environmentally stable, they will instead have a devastating effect on the environment. Largely serving to boost the profits of paper, pulp, biofuel, lumber, and energy corporations, GE trees could facilitate the expansion of large-scale, chemical-centric, monoculture “factory forests” that will require large quantities of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, use high amounts of water, reduce biodiversity, and very possibly increase greenhouse gas emissions. In all likelihood, they will increase deforestation and pollute the environment the way their non-GE counterpart plantations have done.
The CFS calls for the precautionary approach to be exercised in assessing this novel and untested technology and the consideration of other more sustainable alternatives. The full report can be downloaded from http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/reports/2637/genetically-engineered-trees-the-new-frontier-of-biotechnology#. The summary and accompanying press release are reproduced below.
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CFS (2013) Genetically Engineered Trees: The New Frontier of Biotechnology. Center for Food Safety
Genetically engineered (GE) trees are a new frontier of plant biotechnology. These trees are promoted as the new green solution with claims that they will save native forests, protect wildlife and biodiversity, mitigate climate change, and more. But behind these false promises is a very different reality. Instead, trees are being genetically engineered for a range of purposes aimed to accelerate large-scale, industrial monoculture tree plantations and increase profits for biotechnology companies as well as paper, biofuel, lumber, and energy industries. Already, tree plantations of eucalyptus, poplar, oil palm, and pine trees are widely planted around the world and have a legacy of extending deforestation, polluting ecosystems, and often violating human rights in local communities. Poised on the precipice of adopting this novel, unregulated, and untested technology, this report serves as a primer to GE trees and explores the troubling short- and long-term ecological and socio-economic dangers that transgenic trees pose.
An overarching theme of this report is that, fundamentally, GE trees – and tree plantations – extend and exacerbate an industrial, chemical-centric approach to agriculture that has already polluted soils, waterways, and air; diminished biodiversity; and emitted greenhouse gases. As with GE crops, monoculture GE tree plantations will require repeated and widespread dousing of chemicals to eliminate pests and plant diseases. But, eventually, these pests and plant pathogens become resistant to chemicals and require more toxic brews.
The vital functions of forests and the primary drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, with a particular focus on the role of biofuel and biomass production, are discussed in Chapter One. The influence of national and international energy policies is also reviewed. Chapter Two profiles GE trees, focusing on the current status of research and development, ecological and socio-economic concerns, and the unique attributes of trees that necessitate particularly stringent and long-term analyses with regard to genetic engineering. In Chapter Three, we look at “what’s past is prologue” and demonstrate how the hazards of GE crops portend potential problems with GE trees. Finally, Chapter Four outlines policy recommendations that urge a precautionary approach before determining if GE trees are a viable, sustainable way forward.
The Center for Food Safety (CFS) is pleased to offer a new report, Genetically Engineered Trees: The New Frontier of Biotechnology, which explores potential ecological and socioeconomic hazards of genetically engineered (GE) trees.
As you may know, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is considering whether to allow unrestricted planting of the first GE forest tree: eucalyptus engineered by ArborGen to grow in colder climates. If approved, this would allow eucalyptus to be grown throughout the Southeast for the first time, where short-rotation plantations would be established to provide pulp for paper and biomass for energy. A variety of other GE trees are in the research pipeline, suggesting that “factory forests” are on the horizon.
Energy, paper and pulp, and biotechnology companies promote GE trees under a banner of environmental sustainability. However, the opposite is true. GE trees will facilitate expansion of monoculture tree plantations that require fertilizers and pesticides, use high amounts of water, reduce biodiversity, and can increase greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs).
Here are some key findings of the report:
- GE eucalyptus plantations will likely be grown to respond to the burgeoning demand for wood pellets. Already the largest exporter of wood pellets, the US ships them to the EU to co-fire power plants in efforts to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions and mitigate climate change. However, while using wood pellet biomass may reduce sulfur dioxide emissions, emerging science reveals that burning wood pellets increases other pollutants and may not reduce GHGs over the long term.
- GE eucalyptus tree plantations will intensify scarcity of fresh water resources in the southeast. A US Forest Service environmental assessment reported that GE eucalyptus water usage is likely to be at least two-fold greater than existing native forests in the southeast.
- Poplar, pine, and eucalyptus trees are being engineered to alter lignin content to make it easier to process into biofuels as well as other wood-based products. But lignin maintains structural integrity of trees and helps repel pests and pathogens, among other benefits. Forest health could be seriously compromised if the GE altered-lignin trait is passed on to closely related wild forest trees.
- Special attributes of trees make them particularly susceptible to transgenic contamination. For instance, trees have long life spans and produce large quantities of pollen and seeds that are often dispersed over great distances.
- Proponents claim that GE tree plantations will protect forests. However, tree plantations have increased rates of deforestation in many parts of the globe. For example, oil palm plantations have been a major factor in the astounding 60 percent loss of Indonesian forests since 1960. Increasing demand for palm oil —used for a range of products from cosmetics to foods, and more recently, biofuels—creates economic incentives to replace forests with plantations.
The bottom line is that GE trees will accelerate and expand large-scale, chemical-centric, monoculture plantations stocked with proprietary GE trees. While devastating to the environment, “factory forests” would likely be very profitable for biotech companies. For instance, if GE eucalyptus is approved, ArborGen, the leading biotechnology tree company, has projected its profits will boost from $25 million to $500 million in five years.
This report aims to increase awareness of potential harms that GE trees pose and catalyze a visible civil society movement to address this growing threat. As the report notes, we need to explore other alternatives to GE trees before taking this path in the woods.
You can view the full report here.
Center for Food Safety
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Washington, D.C. 20003
202-547-9359