Genetically Modified Trees A Help or a Hindrance? Genetically Modified trees are at the forefront of current scientific research.

Recently, all kinds of GM developments have been made, especially in the GM crop sector, but less well known, are the developments surrounding trees that have been made in recent years. Trees and subsequently , forests, are often seen as low profit land use, rarely providing much income and also being vulnerable to many human products such as herbicides. GM offers the possibilities to improve the trees, changing them to have characteristics such as, becoming herbicide resistant, producing ethanol and creating their own insecticide. However, would this actually bring any benefit to forests and to humans? Recent research into GM trees has shown that many diseases which trees can be infected with could be cured by genetically modifying their genes. Diseases such as Sudden Oak Death, and Dutch Elm Disease could easily be cured. Researchers in the UK have already bred the first Dutch Elm Disease resistant tree. Insecticide could also be produced by the tree to stop insect damage and the spread of some diseases. For industry, GM trees could provide further benefits, including trees that could be created to grow straighter and with fewer knots and branches. Faster growing trees would help ease pressure on the natural, non-GM trees to keep up with demand. Trees are also expected to become a major source of biofuel. In Belgium GM poplars which produce 50% more ethanol than normal poplars are being planted as a future source of biofuel. This is achieved by genetically modifying the trees to produce 20% less lignin and 17% more cellulose. This also makes the bleaching of wood and pulp production significantly cheaper. However, there are problems with most of the propositions and discoveries made. Stopping diseases could lead to other, significantlymore serious ones becoming very prominent and making matters worse. Allowing trees to produce insecticide could kill off several species of small insects, completely obliterating whole ecosystems and food chains around the world. Trees modified to grow rapidly would use up water and increase soil erosion in many countries. In rural, poorer communities, streams and run-

offwhich many people rely on for a water source could dry up. Poplars are known to be able to breed over wide distances. Test trials of GM poplars will almost inevitably spread and produce more in natural forests and eco-systems. If the technology does not work as expected it will cause widespread problems for eco-systems probably wiping out entire species. Making trees immune to herbicide would put more pressure on the soil and would pollute and damage the vast ecosystem of soil micro-organisms. This would, no doubt, have long term effects on farming and other methods of getting food that we take for granted. Lastly, the question remains, should we really be experimenting with nature? GM tree trials have been hindered enormously due to the presence of activists destroying the trees which are being tested. They believe that we are meddling with too great a force to carry on. Many scientists, however, believe it to be inevitable that we will have to turn to GM trees for energy and the resources to carry on advancing in technology. In 2009, there was demand for 10,940 million gallons of Bioethanol. The UK is likely to potentially going to have to turn to trees as a fuel source. The USA is one of the world s biggest producers of biofuel because it has the space to grow corn over a large area to produce it. We do not have that space. Trees are likely to become our method of producing biofuel because they require less space and so would produce fuel more efficiently. But what effect would this rise in GM trees have on us? Many of the natural forests that are currently unprotected by councils would be chopped down and replanted with faster growing, herbicide resistant and increased ethanol producing trees, grown in perfectly straight lines to get the maximum profit per hectare. Only forests protected by councils would remain, and these would very likely be slowly turned into GM hotspots due to interbreeding. Soon almost all of our forest space would be lost to GM trees that in some cases could produce a poisonous insecticide. Our famous forests, told for centuries in stories such as Robin Hood and part of the heritage of our landscape would be lost and turned into profit making wasteland. So although the money and pr fit that this o would bring could be great, we would pay a major price for it, our forests and, as a result, part of what makes Britain the country it is: Its heritage and its unique array of wildlife. GM trees, while being incredibly tough, versatile and beneficial should not be the answer to Britain s materialistic future. By Ethan Harradine