"FRANKENTREES"?An anonymous group of environmental activists chopped down or girdled nearly a thousand cottonwoods and aspens at Oregon State University Oregon State University, at Corvallis; land-grant and state supported; coeducational; chartered 1858 as Corvallis College, opened 1865. In 1868 it was designated Oregon's land-grant agricultural college and was taken over completely by the state in 1885. this spring, hoping to stop experimental genetic engineering on the trees. Then in May, the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture Urban and peri-urban horticulture (UPH) includes all horticultural crops grown for human consumption and ornamental use within and in the immediate surroundings of cities. Although crops have always been grown inside the city, the practice is expanding and gaining more attention. went up in flames In Flames is a melodic death metal band from Gothenburg, Sweden founded in 1990. Along with Dark Tranquillity and At the Gates, they pioneered what is now known as melodic death metal. , destroying laboratories, classrooms, and years of research. Some professors suspect "eco-terrorists" started the blaze. A small part of the center's work involves genetic engineering of trees. After the Oregon incident, the culprits said in an open letter. "The test plots of the Populus genus trees... were independently assessed and found to be a dangerous experiment of unknown genetic consequence." The letter accused Steven Strauss, the forestry professor leading the research, of turning poplars into "frankentrees." Strauss heads a research cooperative at Oregon State that is experimenting with genetic engineering as a way to improve forestry Among its goals: to develop trees that grow more quickly, that are disease-and insect-resistant, and that are tolerant of certain herbicides, like Roundup. "Why not take marginal land, that might not otherwise be used, and grow and manage it intensively so we can grow trees rapidly to satisfy demands for fiber," says Rick Meilan, the associate director of the consortium. "That way, we can preserve our native woods." Meilan says researchers take precautions precautions Infectious disease The constellation of activities intended to minimize exposure to an infectious agent; precautions imply that the isolation of an infected Pt is optional, but not mandatory. to make sure the engineered trees are not cross-pollinated with normal trees. And the researchers must destroy the engineered trees before they mature enough to flower. "We're not denying that there are risks associated with this technology," Meilan said. "What we're attempting to do through research is define what those risks are." Meilan accused the vandals of "trying to play on peoples' emotions. They want attention and sensationalism sensationalism, in philosophy, the theory that there are no innate ideas and that knowledge is derived solely from the sense data of experience. The idea was discussed by Greek philosophers and is shown variously in the works of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, George ." What they want, counter the Oregon activists, is a safe environment. "The expansion of GE from agriculture to industrial resource extraction, as with trees for timber production," the letter to Strauss said, "exhibits the slippery slope 'slippery slope' Medical ethics An ethical continuum or 'slope,' the impact of which has been incompletely explored, and which itself raises moral questions that are even more on the ethical 'edge' than the original issue of biotechnology that is permeating per·me·ate v. per·me·at·ed, per·me·at·ing, per·me·ates v.tr. 1. To spread or flow throughout; pervade: "Our thinking is permeated by our historical myths" every part of human interaction with the rest of the natural world." Meilan is repairing the girdled trees with grafts, and the police and FBI are investigating the vandalism in Oregon and Washington. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion