Part of doing responsible genomics research is considering
the social and ethical issues that go along with it. In Canada this type of research is
called GE3LS, which stands for Genomics-related Ethical, Economic,
Environmental, Legal and Social issues.
All current Genome Canada
and Genome British Columbia
funded genomics projects have a component that is investigating the social and
ethical issues related to their genomics research.
The goal of the Treenomix GE3LS project is to
understand public and stakeholder concerns about using genomic techniques in
forestry in BC and to determine the level of acceptability of these techniques
and their alternatives.
We are planning a series of public participation events and
developing future forest scenarios for participants to consider. We will explore, for example, what
participants think about climate change and its effects on forests, what we can
do about these effects, and the extent to which genomic techniques should be
used as one of society’s tools in anticipation of climate change. Genomics can lead to a better understanding
of how trees can resist insect epidemics, and it can help foresters select
naturally occurring insect-resistant trees.
Are these acceptable uses of genomics?
(The Treenomix project does not
involve GE trees.)