Genetically modified trees planted in US forest for first time
Living Carbon, a biotech company, hopes its seedlings can help manage climate change. But broader use of its trees may be elusive.
On Monday, in a low-lying area of southern Georgia's pine belt, a half-dozen workers planted row after row of twig-like poplars.
They weren't just any trees, though: some of the seedlings nestled in the sodden ground had been genetically modified to grow turbocharged wood. rate while sucking carbon dioxide from the air.
The poplars may be the first genetically engineered trees planted in the United States outside of a research trial or a commercial orchard. Just as the introduction of the Flavr Savr tomato in 1994 ushered in a new industry of genetically modified food crops, tree planters on Monday hope to transform forestry.
Living Carbon, a San Francisco-based biotech company that produced the poplars, wants its trees to be a large-scale solution to climate change.
"We had people who told us that impossible," said Maddie Hall, the company's co-founder and chief executive, of her dream of deploying genetic engineering in the name of the climate. But she and her colleagues have also found believers - enough to invest $36 million in the four-year-old venture.
The company has also drawn criticism. The Global Justice Ecology Project, an environmental group, called the company's trees a "growing threat" to forests and expressed alarm that the federal government allowed them to evade regulation, opening the door to plantations. much earlier than is typical for artificial plants. /p>
Living Carbon has not yet published peer-reviewed articles; its only publicly available results come from a greenhouse trial that lasted only a few months. These data intrigue some experts, but stop long before full approval.
"They have encouraging results," said Donald Ort, a geneticist at the University from Illinois whose experiments with plants helped inspire the technology of Living Carbon. But he added that the idea that greenhouse results will translate into real-world success is "not a slam dunk".
Living Carbon, a biotech company, hopes its seedlings can help manage climate change. But broader use of its trees may be elusive.
On Monday, in a low-lying area of southern Georgia's pine belt, a half-dozen workers planted row after row of twig-like poplars.
They weren't just any trees, though: some of the seedlings nestled in the sodden ground had been genetically modified to grow turbocharged wood. rate while sucking carbon dioxide from the air.
The poplars may be the first genetically engineered trees planted in the United States outside of a research trial or a commercial orchard. Just as the introduction of the Flavr Savr tomato in 1994 ushered in a new industry of genetically modified food crops, tree planters on Monday hope to transform forestry.
Living Carbon, a San Francisco-based biotech company that produced the poplars, wants its trees to be a large-scale solution to climate change.
"We had people who told us that impossible," said Maddie Hall, the company's co-founder and chief executive, of her dream of deploying genetic engineering in the name of the climate. But she and her colleagues have also found believers - enough to invest $36 million in the four-year-old venture.
The company has also drawn criticism. The Global Justice Ecology Project, an environmental group, called the company's trees a "growing threat" to forests and expressed alarm that the federal government allowed them to evade regulation, opening the door to plantations. much earlier than is typical for artificial plants. /p>
Living Carbon has not yet published peer-reviewed articles; its only publicly available results come from a greenhouse trial that lasted only a few months. These data intrigue some experts, but stop long before full approval.
"They have encouraging results," said Donald Ort, a geneticist at the University from Illinois whose experiments with plants helped inspire the technology of Living Carbon. But he added that the idea that greenhouse results will translate into real-world success is "not a slam dunk".
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