MAKING OF A POPLAR by

I can’t think of anyone who has not heard of a genetically modified organism. Most of us can name most of the GMOs that are currently out in the market. But I will bet you dollars to doughnuts you would name a poplar tree nor have you even heard of a modified one.

A San Francisco biotech company, Living Carbon, has created a genetically modified poplar tree. Before we get into the why’s let’s look at what they’ve actually done. First, they used a hybrid of two European poplars. They then used a bacterium to insert genes from pumpkin and green algae. This enables the trees to have lower photorespiration rates and recycle carbon faster in other words they grow faster.

So what’s the big deal? Carbon, or rather the sequestering of carbon. A tree that grows faster will theoretically sequester larger amounts of carbon. According to Living Carbon, these engineered poplars will sequester 27% more CO2 than regular trees.

You would think there would be testing and studies. Well, there is, one. Living Carbon did a 4 month trial, in a greenhouse, under controlled conditions and reported that the poplars put on 53% more weight. This study was only posted on the preprint service Bio Rxiv which does not require formal peer review.

The idea of genetic engineering to get greater growth is nothing new. Biologist Donald Ort of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, actually led a tobacco enhancement project and is now currently growing some of Living Carbon’ s poplars in a field in Oregon to see if their claims hold up.

So again, other than sequestering carbon, why bother? Land owners would be able to harvest timber quicker while at the same time actually sell the carbon credits from these stands of trees. With the current rate of $40 to $80 per metric ton, that could add up to a nice paycheck for the land owner.

Hence the reason that over 6,000 of these poplars have been planted on private land in Tattnall County, Georgia. It’s on private land and, hold onto your hat, there is no government oversight. Company leaders are saying that this poplar was engineered using a different method than that of the Chestnut tree and does not need federal regulatory approval. When the initial permit was applied for it didn’t flag for regulation because it occurred 2 months before the requirements were made more stringent.

Let’s go back to the parent plants used. One of the parent trees is the European white poplar and has already escaped its original status as an ornamental and is considered an invasive species in South Caroline and other states.

Living Carbon claims there will be no problem because all of their trees are female and do not produce seeds. Hmmmm, where have I heard something like that before? I mean seriously, what could possibly go wrong? If you think that just having females will ensure that you don’t have any ‘ young,’ look no further than honeybees. A worker can lay an egg and it will be unfertilized, therefore a drone.

I personally don’t have an issue with GMOs. I think a lot of the population has been fed a steady diet of scare tactics about genetically modified or