Biotech Tree Status
Updated 03/2009
Deregulated - Papaya, U.S. 1997. The three U.S. agencies that have regulatory oversight (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) gave the papaya a non-regulated status for use in Hawaii to combat a virus. This made the tree available to any farmer interested in planting it. Because papaya is a food crop it had to be reviewed by plant, environmental, and food related agencies: U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, The Environmental Protection Agency, and the Food and Drug Administration respectively.
Additional information: Zakour, John and Linda McCandless. “First Genetically Engineered Papaya Released to Growers in Hawaii” April 18, 1998.
Not regulated – Poplar, China 2002. China commercially released 1.4 million genetically modified Poplar (Populus) trees in an area of 300 – 500 hectares (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2004). As opposed to the Papaya, which is considered a food crop, this event marked the first biotech forest tree ever released into the environment. These trees were predominately modified with the Bt gene that produces a protein toxic to insect pests. This gene is produced by a bacterium in the soil called Bacillus thuringensis and is used in a number of biotech crops including corn, cotton, and soybeans. Today there are spurious reports that these trees are now readily available to tree farmers to plant for various purposes.
Additional information: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Preliminary review of biotechnology in forestry, December 2004
Pending deregulation – Plum, U.S. 2009. In 2007 The U.S. Department of Agriculture deregulated the C5 “HoneySweet” Plum tree engineered to be resistant to the plum pox virus (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, 2007). Like the Papaya, this tree is also a food crop and was subject to similar requirements. As of printing, this tree is awaiting approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Additional information:
“Honeysweet Plun Trees: A Transgenic Answer to the Plum Pox Problem"