ArborGen

ArborGen is a joint collaboration between International Paper, MeadWestVaco Corp. and New Zealand's Rubicon Ltd. that, in August 2009, was "seeking permission from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to sell the first genetically engineered forest trees outside China" and, in May 2010, received permission from the USDA to plant "260,000 genetically engineered hybrids of eucalyptus trees at 28 test sites in seven southeastern states."

ArborGen Seeks Permission to Plant Frankenforests of GM Eucalyptus Trees
According to Bloomberg, through this venture, International Paper "plans to remake commercial forests in the same way Monsanto Co. revolutionized farms with genetically modified crops." Rubicon investor David Knott is quoted as saying, "This could take off faster than Monsanto.” "ArborGen’s eucalyptus would become the first engineered forest tree sold in the U.S., where disease-resistant plum and papaya trees already are permitted, according to a USDA database. China has planted about 1.4 million biotech black poplars since commercialization in 2002."

"Engineered eucalyptus trees could be an ecological disaster, bringing increased fire risk and extraordinary water consumption to a new environment," according to Neil Carman of the Sierra Club. "Easier-to-pulp trees will be weak, and hurricanes will spread their pollen and contaminate native forests, he said."

“These are Frankenforests,” Carman said. “You are tampering with Mother Nature in a big way by putting genetically engineered trees out there.”

USDA Grants Permission
According to The Memphis Commercial Appeal, "In May 2010, the U.S. Department of Agriculture decided to allow the planting and flowering of 260,000 genetically engineered hybrids of eucalyptus trees at 28 test sites in seven southeastern states." These trees were developed by ArborGen. Eucalyptus, not native to North America, "typically do not survive freezing temperatures. Arborgen has aimed to engineer hybrids that survive freezing weather and are sterile. International Paper is interested in developing plantations of the fast-growing Australian hardwood throughout the southeastern U.S. to provide pulp for making paper and raw materials for biofuel refiners."

Center for Biological Diversity Sues to Block Field Tests
The Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club and four other environmental organizations "challenged the approvals in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleging that they violated federal environmental regulations and decision-making rules."

"On Oct. 6, U.S. Dist. Judge K. Michael Moore ruled against the environmentalists on every count. He rejected the argument that the large number of plantings allowed amounted to commercialization, then dismissed several of the environmentalists' objections as irrelevant to a process for allowing limited scientific tests."

Communications director for the Center for Biological Diversity, Mike Stark, is quoted as saying, "We'll wait until the next stage of the regulatory process and intervene there," and "said the next step would be to wait until the USDA takes up Arborgen's petition to deregulate the genetically engineered eucalyptus hybrid. Deregulation would allow anyone to plant the hybrids anywhere without regulatory review."

Anne Petermann, Executive Director of the Global Justice Ecology Project and the coordinator of the STOP GE Trees Campaign, "said that International Paper has said it wants to plant 42 million acres of eucalyptus forest in the southeastern U.S. Since eucalyptus trees take up twice as much water as do pine trees, that would reduce the water levels of nearby streams by 20 percent while layering the ground with highly flammable leaf litter and depriving native wildlife of food, she said."

Collaboration with Mendel Biotechnology
ArborGen partners with Mendel Biotechnology "to improve stress tolerance in selected tree species." Mendel is a plant biotechnology research firm that does contract work for Monsanto, Bayer CropScience and BP, among others. It is a private corporation. headquartered in Hayward, California.

GE Trees in Sweden
Mendel also collaborates with SweTree Technologies "for the development of improved varieties of plantation forest tree species."

In October 2004, Mendel and SweTree Technologies announced a joint venture to "exploit the value of certain transcription factor (TF) genes within the $750 billion forestry field, among them the Hercules gene. The collaboration includes a research effort to validate certain Mendel lead TF genes for the forestry field as well as a commercial effort to advance identified products.

"SweTree Technologies is a research and development company that specializes in biotechnology for tomorrow's forest and agricultural industries. SweTree Technologies provides technologies and products for the seedling and forestry industry, fibre based industries such as pulp, paper and packaging industry, and for niche areas of the agricultural biotech business. SweTree Technologies main interest is in genes that improve the growth of trees and their wood and fibre properties. The company is associated with 45 renowned research leaders in plant and forest biotechnology residing in several universities in Sweden. SweTree Technologies AB was founded in 1999 by a joint initiative between the foundation of technology transfer (Teknikbrostiftelsen) in Umea and the company Woodheads AB."

In March 2007, the two companies announced plans to extend the collaboration to include "a research effort to validate Mendel TF genes for the forestry field as well as a commercial effort to advance identified products." "We are very happy with the results from our first collaboration with SweTree which identified significant, beneficial traits in Poplar trees for the tested genes from Mendel," CEO Neal Gutterson said. "The forest industry has already shown interest in certain genes from the project," according to Mats Johnson, CEO of SweTree Technologies AB.

Management

 * Barbara H. Wells, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer
 * Geoffrey P. Clear, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
 * David M. Nothmann, Vice President of Business and Product Development
 * Maud A. W. Hinchee, Ph.D., Chief Science Officer
 * Gregory L. Mann, General Manager of Australasian Operations
 * Leslie Pearson, Ph.D., Director of Regulatory Affairs
 * Warren A. Banner III, Director of Varietal Manufacturing
 * Nancy M. Hood, Director of Public Affairs and Sustainability
 * Michael W. Cunningham, Ph.D., Director of Product Development
 * Kellie Gypin, Director of Portfolio Management
 * S. David Wolfe, Director of Human Resources

Contact
P.O. Box 840001 Summerville, SC 29484-4129 USA Phone: 843.851.4129 Fax: 843.832.2164 Email: info@arborgen.com Web: http://www.arborgen.us/

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Biotechnology
 * Monsanto
 * Mendel Biotechnology
 * SweTree Technologies
 * Bayer CropScience
 * DuPont
 * Pioneer Hi-Bred
 * Bt Crops
 * Roundup Ready Crops
 * GMO Policies by Country
 * Using Hunger to Promote Genetic Engineering

External resources

 * Peter Downs, Court loss won't stop environmentalists' battle against modified-eucalyptus trees, The Memphis Commercial Appeal, October 23, 2011
 * Tom Levitt, "Public sector should develop GM crops for seed companies, says leading researcher," The Ecologist, August 1, 2011
 * Jack Kaskey, International Paper Treads Monsanto’s Path to ‘Frankenforests’, Bloomberg, August 28, 2009