Biomass ’09: Transgenic algae pose environmental risks

Biomass Magazine | July 2009
By Anna Austin
Posted July 15, 2009, at 2:04 p.m. CST

While algae have become an attractive candidate for biomass-based fuels and carbon recycling, the risks of genetically modifying algae for such purposes are tremendous, according to David Haberman, president of Florida-based IF LLC.

Current efforts to genetically mutate algae are impetuous, mad rushes, Haberman told attendees of the feedstock session at the Biomass ’09: Power, Fuels and Chemicals Workshop in Grand Forks, N.D.,

“Exxon made a recent announcement that they would spend $600 million on the genetic modification of algae in pursuit of biomass-derived biofuels,” he said. “Of that, $300 million is for in-house work, and the other $300 million is intended to go to an industrial team led by a team called Synthetic Genomics. For those who know this, this is run by the gentleman who was credited with decoding the human genome approximately 10 years ago.”

Read the full story