I'm going to put my questions primarily to Ms. Sharratt.
I believe I heard you use the term “extremely dangerous” when you were referring to some of the genetics and some of the modifications that we find. You mentioned poplar. Now, I probably have planted more trees than everyone combined around this table, and I happen to know a little bit about that poplar you're talking about, or at least something similar to it.
Given that we're talking about fuel--we're not talking about ingesting this as a human food source--where can you come up with the term “extremely dangerous” when you refer to some of these things? You talk about genetically modified feedstocks. Where in the world is there an example, or can you give us an example, of someone who has been harmed? Are the emissions coming from genetically modified crops disposed of differently? There's very little you can find in agriculture today, whether it's oats, barley, wheat, or even watermelons--whatever it is--that isn't genetically modified. Your peaches, your raisins, your seedless grapes are all genetically modified.
Where are we coming up with this? We hear all these extreme statements being made, but no one in my 15 years here has ever supported the argument that a single person in the world has gotten sick from anything that has been genetically modified, unless of course there's an animal or a plant gene transferred from one to the other.
I understand we have to be careful, but how can you use terms like that? I think those are fear-mongering terms.