Assessing the Risks Ultimately, questions about safety will have to be resolved by data, not debate. But opponents say regulatory standards are not tough enough. The restrictions on outdoor testing of genetically modified trees are virtually identical to those already in place for annual crops, they note. In most cases, growers must simply sign a statement promising they will follow general guidelines to protect the environment. B.C. Ellis tried several times to get federal money for ecological studies of low-lignin wood while he was at Wisconsin, he said, but to no avail.
Federal regulators say they are on top of the issue.
The department may also soon ask a special committee of the National Academy of Sciences to investigate the risks and benefits of biotech trees. If activists have their way, that will be a long process. But every year of delay can only hurt what's left of Earth's remaining forests, said Kenneth Munson of ArborGen in Savannah, Ga., a biotech tree venture that includes woodland-product giants International Paper and Westvaco and two New Zealand companies. We think they are knowledgeable and pragmatic and we look forward to a rational discussion of this.