Science in the Triangle

Nearly a decade after genetically modified foods garnered criticism as so-called Frankenfoods, most of the corn, canola and soybean plants grown commercially in the U.S. are genetically modified. Golden rice, modified to contain high amounts of vitamin A, is expected to come to market within two years. But crops that have been engineered in a laboratory to withstand herbicides or pests, to grow faster or to contain important nutrients still raise safety and ecological concerns - particularly in Europe.

Genetically modified trees could be next in line for global public scrutiny.

Much of the Hawaiian papaya crop is already grown on trees modified to resist a fungus that devastated the majority of Hawaii’s unmodified papaya plantations. A plum tree modified to resist blight and a tropical eukalyptus tree that can deal with freezing temperatures in the southeastern U.S. are up for regulatory approval and genetically modified trees for wood products, including biomass to make cellulosic ethanol, are being grown on research stations nationwide.

Anticipating criticism, academic and corporate proponents of biotech trees banded together to nip a “Frankenwoods” scare in the bud.

The effort was spearheaded by two nonprofits based in North Carolina’s Research Triangle area, the Institute of Forest Biotechnology and the Biofuels Center of North Carolina, and generated stewardship principles that promote transparency of the genetic modification and the tree’s origin.

Steven Burke

The 426-acre campus of the Biofuels Center, a former U.S. Department of Agriculture tobacco research station about 30 miles north of Research Triangle Park, is also the first field study site where genetically modified forest trees will be grown in accordance with the stewardship principles. Read more…