To the editor:

A news article in your February issue1 reported that GM poplars developed by the group of Wout Boerjan at the Flanders Institute of Biotechnology (VIB) in Ghent were to move to the Netherlands to go on trial there. I am happy to report that VIB finally succeeded in getting an authorization for the trial in Belgium and does not have to move abroad.

The application in Belgium was first refused in May 2008, even though the Belgian Biosafety Advisory Council and the regional Flanders minister of the environment had both given their positive advice. VIB took legal action at the Council of State (the highest Belgian court) and made a few rounds of negotiations to overturn the negative decision and finally get the authorization in mid-February 2009.

The authorization is a landmark in the genetically modified organism field trial history in Belgium. It is the first field trial in Belgium since 2002. From 1987 to 2002 Belgium had a flourishing field trial culture reflecting the country's advanced research in plant biotech. In 1983, researchers in Ghent led by Marc Van Montagu and Jef Schell were the first to develop a genetically engineered plant. The trial in 1987 was one of the first in the world, but after 2002, the number of field trials dropped down to zero as the result of regulatory uncertainty surrounding the implementation of the 2001/18 EU directive on the deliberate release of gentically modified organisms. Laboratory research on plant biotech, however, has always kept up its pace.

Even though VIB has successfully pursued a field trial permit in The Netherlands as well, it will not start a trial there in the near future. It commenced planting of its trees last month on a field trial plot in Ghent. The plot is close to the research facilities and also close to the biofuels pilot plant, which is being set up in the port of Ghent. In trees themselves lignin biosynthesis is suppressed leading to trees with about 20% less liginin and 17% more cellulose per gram of wood. This makes them more suitable for bioethanol production. Wood from these trees grown in the greenhouse produces up to 50% more bioethanol than ordinary poplar trees. The field trial is the ultimate test to see whether wood produced under real-life conditions—seasons, stormy weather and a marginal soil—is also able to produce ethanol in a much more efficient way. VIB expects to have its first results from the trial in 2012.