Genetically modified trees planted in Quebec

Genetically modified trees planted in Quebec
October 20, 2003
CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/10/20/gm_trees031020
Val Cartier, Que. - The federal government is, according to this story,
funding a field trial of genetically modified trees near Quebec City, and
researchers with the Canadian Forest Service were cited as saying it will help
protect the country's natural forests.
Researchers have planted a plot of 400 genetically modified spruce and poplars
in the woods near Val Cartier.
Research scientist Armand Siguin of the Canadian Forest Service says it is the
only field trial of transgenic trees in the country.
The trees look normal, he says, but they have an extra gene to protect them
from spruce budworm and other insects without resorting to pesticides.
Siguin says there's no chance the modified trees will cross-pollinate with
their neighbours either during or after the field test.
"We have to monitor for five years after the end of trial to make sure there
is no trace of that material in the environment, and everything has to be
destroyed by burning," says Siguin.
He acknowledges genetically modified plants are a controversial subject. If
the trees are mass produced, researchers won't follow the same path as the
agriculture industry, which Siguin says caught Canadians off guard.
"For me, it looks more like playing with genetics for the fun of playing with
genetics because you're able to do it," says Louis Bilanger of the Quebec's
Union for Nature Conservation.
Bilanger says there should be further public consultations before more federal
government money is spent on the research, no matter what the potential
benefits are.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE WOODYPLANTS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index